The AU’s words of solidarity for Palestine are no longer enough

It’s time for the AU to return to its anti-colonial roots, and adopt substantial measures against Israel.

On May 11, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, released a statement “strongly condemning” Israel’s deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip and expressing the AU’s strong support for the Palestinian people’s “legitimate quest for an independent and sovereign State with East Jerusalem as it’s capital”. You may think the statement is familiar, because it is – Mahamat’s words are almost identical to the many bold and straight-to-the-point statements issued by the AU in response to Israel’s persistent assaults on Gaza over the years. In May 2018, when Israel killed 266 people and injured tens of thousands during Gaza’s Great March of Return protests, for example, Mahamat promptly expressed his organisation’s strong and persistent support for the Palestinian struggle and called for a “just and lasting solution to the conflict…within the framework of the relevant United Nations pronouncements”.