Misplaced Pages

Israeli apartheid: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →
Revision as of 12:34, 31 May 2006 view sourceBless sins (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers16,862 edits →Analogy: another source, improve language← Previous edit Revision as of 16:33, 31 May 2006 view source FayssalF (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users43,085 editsm moved Israeli apartheid (phrase) to Israeli apartheid: Unilateral moveNext edit →
(No difference)

Revision as of 16:33, 31 May 2006

This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Misplaced Pages's deletion policy.
Please share your thoughts on the matter at this article's entry on the Articles for deletion page.
You are welcome to edit this article, but please do not blank this article or remove this notice while the discussion is in progress. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the Guide to deletion.
If you created the article, please don't take offense. Instead, please join the discussion and consider improving the article so that it meets the Misplaced Pages inclusion criteria.

How to list a page for deletion (log)

Template:AfD doc

It has been suggested that Apartheid wall be merged into this article. (Discuss)
It has been suggested that this article be merged into Israeli-occupied territories. (Discuss)

Template:POV-title "Israeli apartheid" is a controversial phrase used by some Palestinian-rights activists and some anti-Zionists. The term is cricitized for its depiction of Israel's policies by its negative associations. The phrase seeks to draw an analogy between the policies of the Israeli government towards Palestinians to those of the apartheid-era South African government towards its Black and mixed-race populations.

Origins

The analogy was used as early as 1987 by Uri Davis, an Israeli-born academic and Jewish member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in his book Israel: An Apartheid State (ISBN 0862323177) which provided a detailed comparison of Israel and South Africa. The highly controversial World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa adopted resolutions describing Israel as an "apartheid state" . Nobel Peace Prize winner and South African anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu wrote in some articles that the situation in Israel reminded him about Apartheid.

Analogy

Proponents of this term argue that while Israel grants equal rights to Arabs living in Israel within its pre-1967 borders, it routinely discriminates against Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied territories. Proponents argue a number of reasons for this.

  • Palestinians who live in Israeli-occupied territories do not have Israeli citizenship do not have voting rights in Israel as do citizens of Israel (Israeli Arabs including), but they are under Israeli occupation and subject to the laws and policies of the Israeli government and its military.
  • Israel has constructed settlements in the West Bank, which preclude some resources (such as land reserves) from Palestinian use.
  • Israel has created roads and checkpoints that isolate Palestinian communities , which some see as a parallel to South Africa's Bantustans.
  • Israeli road plans in the West Banks have been condemned as "apartheid" as much of the road network "would be reserved for Jews" .
  • B'Tselem has criticized the treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem claiming that the infrastructure and services in Arab areas are neglected , and that the planning and building permit policy is discriminatory .

Proponents of this term often claim discrimination against Israeli Arabs.

  • Jews can easily enter Israel, under the Law of Return, yet Palestinians who fled or were driven out, may not have the Right of return.
  • Arab municipalities receive less than one fifth the funding that is given to their Jewish counterparts.
  • The Government of Israel often refuses to grant permits to build or repair homes, and fails to provide electricity, water, health services, education, roads, or any other infrastructure. One of the consequences is that 70% of Negev Desert Bedouin (Arab) infants are not fully immunized and one third are hospitalized within their first year of life.

Usage

The term "Israeli apartheid" has been used by groups protesting the Israeli government, particularly student groups in Britain, the United States and Canada, where "Israeli apartheid week" is held on many campuses. The term is also used by those advocating sanctions against Israel or disinvestment in Israel echoing the 1980s campaign for sanctions and disinvestment as economic tools to pressure apartheid-era South Africa.

Criticism

Supporters of Israel argue that calling the country an "apartheid state" or referring to "Israeli apartheid" is inaccurate for a number of reasons.

  • The Israeli Arab minority have full and equal voting rights and are represented in the Knesset (Israel's legislature) whilst in apartheid South Africa, Blacks could not vote and had no representation in the South African parliament.or referring to "Israeli apartheid" is inaccurate for a number of reasons
  • Palestinians who live outside Israel and are not Israeli citizens are not entitled to have rights as Israeli citizens. The international law does not reqire an occupying power to grant citizen rights to people living on occpied territory, and this is seldom, if ever, done in practice.
  • Israel's security situation has forced it to impose restrictions on Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza and these conditions are not imposed on Israeli Arabs (that is Palestinians who are residents of Israel living within the state's pre-1967 borders).
  • The features of legal petty apartheid do not exist in Israel. Jews and Arabs use the same hospitals with Jewish and Arab babies being born in the same delivery room. Jews and Arabs eat in the same restaurants, travel in the same buses, trains and taxis without being segregatedor referring to "Israeli apartheid" is inaccurate for a number of reasons.
  • Apartheid South Africa strictly denied Blacks their legal rights. Israeli courts have ruled against practices that exclude Israeli Arabs from leasing property. Arabs are being hired in increasing (though still disproprtionately low) numbers in the civil service and government owned agencies. Arabs are also now being appointed as judges in Israeli courts.
  • Bantustans were created as resevoirs for Black labour to be utilised by South Africa whilst providing a legal means to strip Blacks of their South African citizenship. Israel's policy towards the West Bank and Gaza are quite different, to keep Palestinian residents of these territories out of Israel and exclude as many as possible from working within Israel.
  • Jews constitute a majority of the Israeli population while the situation in South Africa was one of minority rule.

See also

External links

Categories: