Israel Vs. Real Apartheid

The ongoing claim that Israel is an apartheid state is apparently in ascendancy again, having most recently manifested itself in the form of “Israeli Apartheid week”. It's Almost Supernatural from South Africa notes some of the flaws in the comparison:

...The problem with the comparison is that the separation between Israel and the Palestinian territories is more akin to the separation between South Africa and Mozambique (or any other bordering state) than to South Africa and the Bantustans.

There are many differences in practice (Israel does not rely on the Palestinian territories for labour) but the key difference is one of design.

The separation between South Africa and the Bantustans was designed and implemented by apartheid South Africa. The separation between Israel and the Palestinian territories however, was designed by the 1947 UN partition resolution 181. It was not Israel that created this separation (in order to racially subjugate a majority population!) The UN created the separation in order to create two separate states for two separate nations. This happened all over the Middle East once the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Those that now claim that Israel has created Bantustan-like homelands for the Palestinians are either completely ignorant of the Middle East history, ignorant of what apartheid really was, or they are being deliberately malicious. Either way I am certain that part of their campaign is driven by hate.

I wonder how many of the silly American students participating in the recent “Israeli Apartheid week” can even name a single apartheid law passed by the old South Africa.

Meanwhile, as long as there are people out there making the comparison--can anyone point us in the direction of the Palestinian Nelson Mandela?

Technorati Tag: Israel and South Africa and Apartheid.