PRESSURE for international sanctions against Israel over its plans to annexe vast swathes of Palestinian land intensified today after seven former Latin American leaders added their names to the Palestinian call.

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ousted Bolivian president Evo Morales and Colombia’s exiled former leader Rafael Correa signed a statement calling for sanctions, an end to arms sales and trade with Israel and for those committing atrocities in the occupied territories to face war crimes charges.

The statement, initiated by the Palestinian Human Rights Organisations Council and supported by more than 69 Palestinian civil society groups and trade unions, is gaining international traction.

It calls on the international community to “impose lawful, targeted and immediate sanctions on Israel in response to its ongoing annexation, illegal military occupation and apartheid regime of racial discrimination, segregation and territorial expansion that is enshrined in Israel’s domestic law.” 

The groups are responding to US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century,” announced in Washington in January alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It gives Israel the green light to annex the land of illegal settlements in the West Bank, including the fertile Jordan Valley.

An undivided Jerusalem would als receive recognition as Israel’s capital, despite the contested status of the city.

The plan has met widespread global opposition, including condemnation from the United Nations, which said last week that the annexation would be illegal.

But sanctions appear to have been ruled out, meaning that Israel, which has repeatedly violated UN resolutions without any action being taken against it, will continue to act with impunity.

Support for the Palestinian sanctions campaign has been spearheaded by a South African initiative aiming to unify the global South, including Africa, Asia and Latin America, against what it has branded “Israeli apartheid.”

Prominent South African endorsers of the statement include former interim president Kgalema Motlanthe, South African Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and Communist Party of South Africa general secretary Blade Nzimande.

The statement also calls for the UN special committee against apartheid, which last functioned during white-minority rule in South Africa, to be reactivated.

“The proposed annexation of Palestinian territory by Israel is not only an offence against international law and a threat to peace, it is an attack against women and men who fought against colonialism and apartheid,” the statement concludes.