TEHRAN (FNA)- The world has lost a man of ages that will be never forgotten. An icon of peace and reconciliation, Nelson Mandela, 95, passed away Thursday (Dec 5) after a long battle against lung illness.Mandela, often known as Madiba, was an outspoken critic of the Zionist regime policies who remarkably proclaimed in a 1997 speech that his peoples freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.
A keen supporter of the Palestinian cause, Madiba, was one of the greatest human rights activists the world has ever known, a man who led South Africas transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s and guided this country from the chains of apartheid to multi-racial democracy.
Mandela has garnered praise from a wide range of political figures, Palestinian officials in particular, who all praise him for promoting peace and bringing a post-apartheid nation together.
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas is one of the hundreds of the world officials who have expressed deep sorrow over Mandela's demise, and praised his commitment to the Palestinian cause. This is a great loss for all the people of the world, and for Palestine, Abbas said, describing Mandela as a symbol of freedom from colonialism and occupation.
Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against white minority rule, Mandela took office as South Africas first black president in 1994. In his inauguration speech as South Africa's first black president, he said, "The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.
In their struggle to halt Israeli occupation, Palestinians draw inspiration from Mandelas efforts to bring down the apartheid regime that cruelly repressed black South Africans for 46 years.
His example has encouraged a growing Palestinian embrace of boycotts and sanctions against the Zionist regime that also were used to end the white rule in South Africa.
Like the other national liberation movements that emerged in the post-colonial era, the PLO leadership under the late Yasser Arafat espoused similar ideals as Mandelas African National Congress (ANC) which waged a decades-long struggle to end white domination in South Africa.
One of the first foreign leaders Mandela met after being released from prison in 1990 was Arafat. Meeting in Zambia, Madiba praised the PLO chairman as a fellow freedom fighter.
When Arafat died in 2004, Mandela called him one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people.
Mandela, who was well-known for his morality, kindness and good humor inside South Africa and across the globe, was also considered as the father of his nation.
Due to his contributions to eliminating apartheid, Mandela received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Lenin Peace Prize and the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
Whilst this late anti-apartheid hero has garnered praise from across the globe, and while every state and government from the US to Iran, from the Far-East Asia to Latin America has expressed deep sorrow over his demise, the 'apartheid' regime of the Zionists is the only one criticizing this icon of peace and reconciliation.
This animosity towards the champion of anti-racism and peace is so strong that it was very easily and explicitly declared in the Israeli media in the past week.
Giulio Meotti in an article on Arutz Sheva, for instance, said that despite "Mandelas conciliatory approach, his biography shows that he was an enemy of Israel", as he described Israel as "terrorist" and said he doesn't regard the PLO as a terrorist group.
A post-apartheid Pretoria that joins in boycotting Jerusalem is one of the more powerful victories for the boycott and divestment campaign. And its Nelson Mandelas legacy, Meotti said.
And the rest of Meotti's article deals with how an anti-apartheid icon of peace calls Israel a racist terrorist regime.
This and other similar articles released by the Israeli media in the last few days prove very crucial facts to those who might still have some doubt about the nature of the Israeli regime, but here we leave it to you to answer why the Israelis so much resent a man admired by the entire world? Or still better, why does a man known, endorsed and admired for his anti-apartheid views and campaign globally calls the Zionist regime of Israel a terrorist, racist usurper?
By Fars News Agency
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