Figure 1.--

Palestinians have acused the Isrealis of Apartheid. The reference is to the odious Apartheid established by white Afrikaaners in South Africa. South African Allan Boesak said at a Palestine Human Rights Campaign meeting, "Oppression in Palestine is so very like oppression in my homeland." These charges have been echoed by left-wing activists and even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Carter published a book with the incendiary title, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Despite the title, however, Carter does not really persure the case for Israel as an Apartheid state. Apartheid was a political system based on race. Voting and citzenship rights were based on race. The system involved Afrikaaner seizure of large areas of black owned land and control of most of the country's productive farm land. There was also an effort to create Bantustans, meaning to move blacks into small politically controlled reservations in areas of poor land of limited value. Apartheid also involved Afrikaaner control of the court system. So any assessment of the charge that Isreali is persuing Apartheid envolves looking at the basic elements of the system. An assessment of Apartheid would need to assess both Palestinians in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. The ironic aspect of these charges is that the debate commonly ignores the openly Apartheid policies persued by Arab countries toward Palesinian refugees. Arab policies vary from country to countrty, but most Arab countries have confined Palestinian refugees camps, limiting employment opportunities, and denying citzenship rights that is very rarely mentioned by liberally oriented media like the BBC or the major American networks. These are not policies that Israel has persued with its Palestinian citizens.

Charges Against Israel

Palestinians have acused the Isrealis of Apartheid. The reference is to the odious Apartheid established by white Afrikaaners in South Africa. South African Allan Boesak said at a Palestine Human Rights Campaign meeting, "Oppression in Palestine is so very like oppression in my homeland." These charges have been echoed by left-wing activists and even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Carter published a book with the incendiary title, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Despite the title, however, Carter does not really persure the case for Israel as an Apartheid state.

South African Apartheid

Apartheid was a political system based on race. Voting and citzenship rights were based on race. The system involved Afrikaaner seizure of large areas of black owned land and control of most of the country's productive farm land. There was also an effort to create Bantustans, meaning to move blacks into small politically controlled reservations in areas of poor land of limited value. Apartheid also involved Afrikaaner control of the court system.

Comparisons

One question which has to be considered is just how to make fair comparisons. No country has a perfect political system, including the Western democracies. So comparisonds to theoretical ideals are clearly not fair. So do we set us the Westen democracies as the standard. That seems rather unrealistic as by that standard every Arab country would be found as lacking. And there are many problems in the West, including electin problems, racial prejudice, gettos, ect. Not to mention the fact that Western countries during times of war have limited civil liberties. This occurred in America during the Civil War, World War I, and World War II and in Britain during World War II. So using Western peace-time standards to an Isreal surrounded by hostile Arab countries is another problem. Do we then use the political systems in Arab countries of the region as a standard? Arab countries include some of the most oppressive countries in the world. Citizens in many countries have few if any civil liberties and rarely have more than a semblance of democracy. Iraq before the Coalitin invasion persecuted Shia. Jordon for examples bars citizensjip to Jews. Saudi Arabia denies basic writes to non-Muslims. Syria is an outright police state. The only Arab country with free and open elections are ironically occupied Iraq and Palestine. So the standards of the region are hardly those that those of us who aspire to democracy would aspire to. So the question of how to evaluate Israel is a difficult one and one that can easily be manipulated to persur an agenda.

Assessing Charges of Isreali Apartheid

So any assessment of the charge that Isreali is persuing Apartheid envolves looking at the basic elements of the system. An assessment of Apartheid would need to assess both Palestinians in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza.

Arab Policies toward Palestinians

The ironic aspect of these charges is that the debate commonly ignores the openly Apartheid policies persued by Arab countries toward Palesinian refugees. Arab policies vary from country to countrty, but most Arab countries have confined Palestinian refugees camps, limiting employment opportunities, and denying citzenship rights that is very rarely mentioned by liberally oriented media like the BBC or the major American networks. These are not policies that Israel has persued with its Palestinian citizens.

Sources

Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2007)

Created: 7:53 AM 6/26/2007
Last updated: 3:45 PM 6/27/2007