Thursday, May 01, 2014
US Secretary of State John Kerry was pressured to apologise for the off-the-cuff remarks he made at a meeting he thought was private. He said Israel risked becoming an “apartheid state” if it did not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. His comments angered the strong Jewish lobby in Washington (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and were met with derision by Israeli government officials and commentators alike. But why should he have apologised for recognising what has come to be true by the actions, laws and deeds of the Israeli state itself? There simply is no other expression that aptly describes the institutionalised bigotry that exists towards Palestinians in Israel and beyond. Yes, the legislative body of bills may neither be to the same extent nor fomalised as in the South Africa of the whites-only government. But the effects of Israel’s social and governmental policies amount to a system of apartheid where Palestinians are treated in a similar manner like blacks in pre-free South Africa 20 years ago.
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu imprisons Palestinians without charge or trial. Laws of natural justice are denied to Palestinians, just as basic justice was denied to blacks. For those who speak out against the illegal government of occupation, homes are destroyed, wells poisoned, olive groves felled. And those who spoke out against whites-only rule in South Africa, were sanctioned, banished from society, treated as pariahs in their own country. For the members of the armed resistance movement — then the African National Congress (ANC) — there was condemnation as terrorists while countries and brothers in the armed struggle extended their support. And how those leaders once dubbed terrorists have been reconciled and revered as heroes of the apartheid struggle. For those who resist Israel in acts of militant defiance, there is the inevitable branding as terrorists. But those who are held in Israel’s jails need to learn from the ANC’s leadership and patience. There was no need for an apology for the apartheid analogy. That needs to be repeated again and again until all see Israel for what it is.
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