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US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
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PO Box 21539, Washington, DC 20009
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(202) 332-0994
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us_campaign@endtheoccupation.org
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www.endtheoccupation.org
 The US Campaign is a diverse coalitionof over 200 groups working for freedomfrom occupation and equal rights forall by challenging US policy towards theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict. The Campaignis based on human rights and internationallaw, providing a non-sectarian frameworkfor everyone who supports its
Call to Action
. Its strategy is to inform, educate,and mobilize the public so as to change theUS role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom ofthe Palestinians.”
—
President Nelson Mandela, Pretoria, December 4, 1997
A CLOSER LOOK AT ISRAEL’S APARTHEID POLICIES
 
Frequently Asked Questions on Israeli Apartheid
What is apartheid?
Apartheid is the Afrikaner word for“apartness.” It became systematized inSouth Africa in 1948 when the AfrikanerNationalists took power. It is a system ofinstitutionalized segregation designedto perpetuate the supremacy of thedominant group. It reflects a belief thatcertain people are less human than others.In South Africa it translated into thesystematic imprisonment of Black SouthAfricans, torture in prisons, ghettoizedneighborhoods, lack of equal opportunitiesto work, education, and living standard.That’s what most people think of asApartheid. But in fact, Apartheid is not onlySouth African phenomenon.According to the InternationalConvention on the Suppression andPunishment of the Crime of Apartheid GAResolution 3068 (1973),1 
 Apartheid
refersto policies and practices enacted in orderestablish and maintain domination byone racial group of persons over any otherracial group of persons and systematicallyoppressing them.2More broadly, Apartheidrefers to any social system that separatesand discriminates against people basedon race or ethnicity or other similar non-malleable characteristic, when that systemis institutionalized by laws or decrees.
What is/was the relationship between Israeland Apartheid South Africa?
The parallels between policies in Israel andapartheid were not incidental. They grew outof a close connection which helped SouthAfrica sustain its apartheid regime.Given South Africa’s support forNazi Germany the alliance it formed withIsrael soon after the state was founded issurprising. For this was no ordinary alliance.In his 1987 book The Israeli Connection:Who Israel Arms and Why, Israeli ProfessorBenjamin Beit-Hallahmi described theintimate collaboration between Israeland apartheid South Africa as “a uniquealliance...the most comprehensive and themost serious Israeli involvement anywherein the world. Many countries conductbusiness with South Africa, and manycountries support the survival of apartheidin variation ways, but only Israel’s supportis so direct and unreserved. Only in Israelare the red carpets rolled for the visits ofSouth African leaders”--as it was in April1976 for Prime Minister John Vorster, whohad been imprisoned by the British for pro-Nazi activities which he never repudiated.Only Israel, wrote Beit-Hallahmi, offeredSouth Africa assistance “with everythingfrom public relations to military andcounterinsurgency measures.”Israel played a key role in helping SouthAfrica evade sanctions. Under the guise ofa web of joint ventures, dummy companies,and middlemen, Israel supplied SouthAfrica with needed technology, and alsoturned South African materials into finishedproducts that were exported to Africa, the USand Europe bearing a “Made in Israel” label.There was a network of sister-cityagreements between South African andIsraeli towns. Bisho, the capital city of SouthAfrica’s notorous “homeland” Ciskei waspaired with Ariel, the West Bank settlementwhich early in 1989 ordered its Palestinianlabor force to wear badges proclaimingthem to be “foreign workers.” Sister-cityrelationships were also formed between TelAviv and Johannesburg, Haifa and Cape Town,Eilat and Drbuan, Askelon and Port Elizabeth.Both countries saw the possession ofnuclear weapons as the ultimate guaranteeof their existence. In 1962 Israel received tentons of uranium from South Africa for use inits Doimona nuclear reactor. By the 1970s,Israel and South Africa were collaborating inthe development of their nuclear programs.
Israel is not like South Africa, why are youusing the word Apartheid?
It is true that Israeli apartheid policiesdon’t mirror those of Apartheid South Africaexactly, but that lack of perfect symmetrydoes not shatter the stark parallel betweenthe two cases. Consider that whereas inSouth Africa, apartheid distinguishedbetween whites and non-whites, in Israel theparallel categories are Jews and non-Jews. Inits application, the main difference betweenthe two case studies is that in South Africa,the system was created both to seize landand exploit non-white labor, while in Israelit’s implemented in order to control as muchland for exclusive Jewish use. Both systemsare designed for economic gain for thedominant group that causes and sustains thedisempowerment and impoverishment of thesubjugated group.Expropriation of Land—Israeliexpropriation of Palestinian lands beganin 1948 when Zionists founded the State ofIsrael and displaced approximately 700,000indigenous Palestinians and destroyednearly 500 Palestinian villages. Confiscationof Palestinian land for Jewish use within
 
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
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1101 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Suite 204, Washington, DC 20003-2229
 T 
(202) 543-1778
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us_campaign@endtheoccupation.org
W
www.endtheoccupation.org
 
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
■
PO Box 21539, Washington, DC 20009
 T 
(202) 332-0994
E
us_campaign@endtheoccupation.org
W
www.endtheoccupation.org
Israel Proper continues to this day and isfacilitated by a number of laws includingthe Absentee Property Law of 1950. TheAbsentee Property Law declares all landsthat were fled from in 1948 as StateProperty thereby depriving its indigenousinhabitants access to the land or evencompensation. Between 1948 and 1953,Israel established 370 new settlements for Jews only, 350 of which were located on landconfiscated as “absentee” property. Since1978, settlement policies inside the Statehave focused on settling Jewish populationsin the areas outside greater Tel Aviv,especially the Galilee in order to manipulatethe local demography.3 Land expropriation began in theOccupied Palestinian Territories after theIsrael occupied the West Bank, Gaza, andEast Jerusalem in the aftermath of the1967 6-Day War. Since 1967, Israel hassystematically confiscated Palestinian landin East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bankfor settlement expansion. The situation isespecially harsh in Jerusalem where Israelhas embarked on a “Judaization” campaignby disproportionately serving its Jewishresidents. According to the Israeli humanrights group B’tselem, Jerusalem’s Jewishpopulation, who make up 70% of the city’s700,000 residents, are served by 1,000 parks,36 public swimming pools and 26 libraries. Incontrast, the 260,000 Palestinians living inthe east of the city have 45 parks, no publicswimming pools, and 2 libraries.4
 I thought the problem was occupation, why are you calling it Apartheid? Which one is it?
Apartheid is the framework which refersto the institutionalized discriminationagainst Palestinians within Israel Properand the Occupied Territories. Militaryoccupation in East Jerusalem, Gaza,and the West Bank is one manifestationof Israel’s Apartheid policies. Othersymptoms include the denial of entry ofPalestinian citizens into Israel and/orthe Occupied Territories. The Nationalityand Entry into Israel Law (also knownas the Ban on Family Unification) whichprevents Palestinians from the West Bankor Gaza who are married to Palestiniancitizens of Israel from gaining residency orcitizenship status is another symptom ofIsraeli Apartheid policies.5In other words,apartheid is the overall framework andoccupation is one of its symptoms.
Are Israel’s Apartheid Policies limited tothe Occupied Palestnian Territories?
No, although apartheid policies are moststark in the Occupied Palestinian Territorieswhere a Jewish settlement programnecessitates the confiscation of Palestinianland, the disproportionate allocation ofwater between Jews and non-Jews, and theconstruction of by-pass roads for exclusive Jewish use, apartheid policies also existwithin Israel Proper and are applied againstits Palestinian citizens.Within Israel, there are 4.6 million Jewish citizens, 1.3 million PalestinianChristian and Muslim citizens of Israel and0.5 million citizens who are neither Jewishnor Palestinian. Israel explicitly privileges its Jewish citizens over its non-Jewish citizens.It does so by implementing de jure and defacto policies.Discrimination by law—Structurally,Israel has 20 laws that privilege its Jewishcitizens over its non-Jewish citizens. Themost fundamental of these laws are the TheLaw of Return (1950) and The Citizenship Law(1952), which allow Jews to freely immigrateto Israel and gain citizenship, but deniesPalestinians refugees that same right asguaranteed by UN Resolution 194.Another less insidious law is theNational Planning and Building Law whichdenies basic services, such as water andelectricity to roughly 70,000 residents ofover 100 “unrecognized” Arab villages inthe State. These villages are not recentlycreated squatter villages—they eachexisted before the State’s establishment.The main purpose of the law is to force thepeople to leave their villages and move togovernment-planned areas. There are noequivalent unrecognized Jewish villagesin Israel. The consequence of this is that100,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel (i.e.,15% of their total) live without services andwith incremental demolition.
If Palestinian-Israelis are citizens, and canvote in Israel, doesn’t that make them equal?
Israel defines itself as a Jewish andDemocratic State. That means that whilesome rights are based on citizenship, othersare based on nationality, distinguishingthe rights available to Jew and non-Jew,irrespective of one’s citizenship. In effect,Israel’s Jewish citizens are privileged.According to the U.S. StateDepartment’s 2005 Annual Human RightsReport, “[There is] institutionalized legaland societal discrimination against Israel’sChristian, Muslim and Druze citizens. Thegovernment does not provide Israeli Arabswith the same quality of education, housing,employment and social services as Jews.”6 For example:• Ninety-three per cent of the land inIsrael is owned either by the state or byquasi-governmental agencies (such as the Jewish National Fund) that discriminateagainst non-Jews. Palestinian citizens ofIsrael face significant legal obstacles ingaining access to this land for agriculture,residence, or commercial development.• Most non-Jewish children attendschools that are “separate and unequal”in comparison to those attended by JewishIsraeli children. Government budgetsallocate far more money to Jewish schoolsthan to non-Jewish schools. Zama Coursen-Neff, counsel to the Children’s RightsDivision of Human Rights Watch. Comments“Government-run Arab schools are a worldapart from government-run Jewish schools.In virtually every respect, Palestinian Arabchildren get an education inferior to thatof Jewish children, and their relatively poorperformance in school reflects this.”7 Doesn’t Israel have the right to defend itselfagainst Palestinians trying to destroy it?How is that apartheid?Israel often uses the pretext of self-defense to justify its policies againstPalestinians, but in almost all cases thisis not true. Consider the construction ofthe Annexation Wall, also known as theSeparation Fence. Israel claims that it builtthe Wall in order to prevent Palestiniansfrom committing suicide bombings in Israel.Were that truly the case, the Wall would runalong the Armistice Line separating the WestBank from Israel Proper. Instead the Wallruns two times the length of the ArmisticeLine and juts 13 miles east into the WestBank annexing Israel’s illegal settlements.The Wall effectively divides families fromone another, children from their schools,farmers from their agricultural lands andcreates tiny enclaves similar to Bantustans.According to the July 2004 Advisory Opinionof the International Court of Justice, Israelcan not use “self-defense” as a justificationto violate international legal principles.8More generally, Israel’s attacks onthe Occupied Territories are consistentlydisproportionate and excessive. Between the
 
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
■
PO Box 21539, Washington, DC 20009
 T 
(202) 332-0994
E
us_campaign@endtheoccupation.org
W
www.endtheoccupation.org
kidnapping of an Israeli soldier on June 25th2006 until November 13th 2006, Israel hadseized eight Palestinian cabinet members,bombed the office of the PalestinianPrime Minister, destroyed a power electricgenerator in the Gaza Strip which providedGaza’s 1.3 million Palestinians with 40%of its electric supply, created 25 sonicbooms in pre-dawn hours, and killed300 Palestinians.9Such acts can not bedescribed as acts of self-defense. Insteadthey constitute collective punishmentagainst a civilian population prohibited byArticle 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Wasn’t the Oslo Peace Process designed toend the occupation, and maybe end what you call apartheid?
Oslo was not a peace process. Oslomarked the drafting of the Declaration ofPrinciples which would establish the termsof negotiation towards peace withouta defined outcome. The terms of Osloprefaced Israeli security above Palestinianstatehood and self-determination. MeronBenvinitsim one of the foremost Israeliexperts on the West Bank and former deputymayor of Jerusalem, referred to Palsestinianself-rule under Oslo as “merely a euphemismfor Bantustinization” and continuedoccupation, “albeit by remote control.”10 Consider that in the aftermath of Oslo,the Occupied Territories were divided into 3areas: A, B, and C.Area A constituted 3% of the Territoriesand was under full Palestinian Authoritymilitary and civil control.Area B constituted 23% of the Territoriesand was under full Palestinian Authority civilcontrol and joint Israeli-Palestinian militarycontrol.Area C constituted 74% of the Territoriesincluding 145 settlements and new Jewish neighborhoods around East Jerusalem and was under full Israeli civiland military control. Effectively, Israelmaintained military control over 97% of theTerritories.11 Settlements—The heart of theconflict in the Occupied Territories are thesettlements because they represent theencroachment and domination of the land.Settlements are illegal pursuant to Article49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions whichprohibits the transfer of one’s civilianpopulation into Occupied Territories.Notwithstanding their illegality, during Oslo,between 1992 and 1996, settlements andsettlers increased. The West Bank settlerpopulation grew by 39% and only 16% ofthis figure was due to natural populationgrowth. In East Jerusalem, the Jewish settlerpopulation grew from 22,000 to 170,000and the Israeli government built 10,000 newsubsidized housing units.12 Far from being an era of peace, Oslorepresented nearly a decade of Israeliviolations of international law under theguise of peace and reconciliation.
How was Apartheid overcome in SouthAfrica?
The Anti-Apartheid Movement began in thelate 50s. Its mission was to work for the totalisolation of the apartheid system includinga boycott of South African products; an endto sports, academic and cultural contacts;an end to bank loans, military and economicties, and the purchase of Krugerrands;divestment from South African companiesand companies that have investments inSouth Africa; and for government sanctionsto be imposed on the apartheid state.• It grew into a grassroots movement whichtook root throughout Europe and in theUnited States, and took its guidance fromthe liberation movements, especially theANC with its call for a new system based on“one man, one vote.” A major challenge waswhether or not to support armed struggle—the armed wing of the ANC (Umkhonto weSizwe) was formed in 1961.At least as important as the sanctionsimposed by the US and national governments(there were always ways around them) was thesupport given the boycott by NGOs, privatebusinesses and individuals who refused tobuy South African goods as long as apartheidlasted, and the moral decisions taken byprivate citizens and companies to mobilizetheir financial clout through divestment.Support for the movement dramaticallyincreased with the State of Emergencyproclaimed by South Africa in 1985. In thatcontext, international banks refused torenew South Africa bank loans so it couldno longer raise funds abroad, a step whichinfluenced leading South African capitaliststo push for negotiations with NelsonMandela (who was for decades considered“terrorist number one”)Abdul Minty, the secretary of the BritishAnti-Apartheid Movement, looked back onits achievements from 1999: “The world-wide movement was effective because itwas a coalition of committed governmentsand people’s movements in the west whichmanaged to influence policy at the nationallevel, as well as at institutions like the UN.We used to say that the degree of unarmedpressure mobilized against apartheid woulddetermine the degree of armed pressure thatwould be necessary to end it.”
What does the rest of the world, includinggovernments, think about Apartheid as adescription of Israeli policies?
The reference to the Israeli-Palestinianconflict as an example of Apartheid isnot unique. Globally, governments, non-governmental organizations, and peoplelike us are describing the Israeli-Palestinianconflict as Apartheid.The most well-known example of thisusage is Jimmy Carter’s book, Peace notApartheid. Although Carter limits theframework’s application to the OccupiedTerritories and not to all of Israel’s policiestowards its Palestinian citizens andsubjects, his book helps shed light on theless known fact that the situation is lessone about security and more about racialdiscrimination. In discussing the wall hedraws on interviews done with PalestinianChristian Religious leaders to addressits legitimacy, he writes “CounteringIsraeli arguments that the wall is to keepPalestinian suicide bombers from Israel,Father Claudio adds a comment thatdescribes the path of the entire barrier: ‘TheWall is not separating Palestinians from Jews; rather Palestinians from Palestinians.’Nearby are three convents that will also becut off from the people they serve. The 2,000Palestinian Christians have lost their placeof worship and their spiritual center.
Carter is not alone amongst formernational leaders to use the word Apartheidto describe the conflict. Desmond Tutu is therecipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984for his work against apartheid. In his 2002article, “Do I Divest?, he writes, “Many SouthAfricans are beginning to recognize theparallels to what we through. Ronnie Kasrilsand Max Ozinsky, two Jewish heroes of theanti-apartheid struggle, recently publisheda letter titled ‘Not in My Name.’ Signed byseveral hundred other prominent JewishSouth Africans, the letter drew an explicitanalogy between apartheid and currentIsraeli policies. Mark Mathabane and Nelson
of 00

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ILoveMyMusic6156

The world should not allow itself to be dragged into another conflict on false pretenses in this region again. - http://bit.ly/84Q5hF

reply02 / 25 / 2010
lambert

nothing but lies and bs.

reply02 / 18 / 2010
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