Billboards highlighting Palestinian refugees hung in South Africa

PRETORIA, South Africa (JTA) — Twelve billboards titled ‘’Palestine loss of land 1946-2021″ were put up in the Central Gauteng Province of South Africa.

The billboards, posted this week, are composed of four aligned maps showing the so-called “absorption” of Palestinian land by Israel from 1946 to the present, along with a declaration that “4.7 million Palestinians are classified by the UN as refugees.”

South African pro-Palestinian organizations are following up on an initiative in suburban New York, where three months ago a pro-Palestinian organization placed a similar ad in the Chappaqua train station, in Westchester County. The South African organizations also purchased billboard spaces in Pretoria and Johannesburg, where the same ads have been displayed.

BDS South Africa and the South-Africa Palestinian Alliance attached the timing of the campaign to recent events in South Africa-Israeli relations, including the ruling African National Congress’ pro-Palestinian positions expressed at the last party policy conference and the Trade Ministry’s notice preventing the labeling of West Bank products as manufactured in Israel in favor of the label “produced in Palestinian Occupied Territories.”