Israeli apartheid what is it

Condemnations and warnings mean little when relations continue as normal. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement BDS , which drew inspiration from the South African anti-apartheid movement, can thus guide the international community in its efforts to hold Israel to account.

Boycotts helped South Africans win their fight against racism, inequality and apartheid, and they can do the same for Palestinians.

Israel is disturbed by, and until now has actively fought against, the accusation of being an apartheid state — and for good reason.

The apartheid label, when it sticks, can swiftly reduce a country into a pariah on the international arena, leaving it with no option other than changing its ways. Once the international community, albeit belatedly, acknowledges that Israel is indeed an apartheid state, it can finally award it the same status that it once bestowed upon apartheid South Africa — that of a pariah state.

David Palumbo-Liu. Published On 22 Jul It is hardly difficult to make the case for Israel being an apartheid state. The law states that: The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination. Segregation is carried out by implementing separate legal regimes for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in the same area.

In the occupied West Bank, Jewish Israeli settlers living in illegal settlements are governed by Israeli civil law, while Palestinians also living in the West Bank are governed by Israeli military law. This separation was reiterated when Israel passed the Nation State Law in , essentially codifying decades of discrimination and enshrining two classes of citizens in law. For example:. Thus, the morning after annexation would be the crystallisation of an already unjust reality: two peoples living in the same space, ruled by the same state, but with profoundly unequal rights.

In the OPT, including East Jerusalem, that intent has been coupled with systematic oppression of Palestinians and inhumane acts committed against them. When these three elements occur together, they amount to the crime of apartheid. A number of Israeli government officials have used the term apartheid in reference to Israeli control over Palestinians:. Israel maintains control of the occupied territory and continues to build settlements. The HRW report is undoubtedly a positive development and a step in the right direction.

But the question we are facing today is not whether Israel is an apartheid state. The question is, when will the international community act in concert to put an end to its obvious and obviously reprehensible system of oppression? Lori A Allen. But those conditions are not The Apartheid I grew up in the aftermath of — and I would hate to have that fall into obscurity.

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