By Sister Miriam Ward, RSM, The Times Argus, and Caledonian Record (4/18/2011) 4/15/2011
Jimmy Carter dared use it. Archbishop Tutu was deeply disturbed by it. Nelson Mandela called it a crime against humanity. It is the “A” word, Apartheid -- Afrikaner for “separation” – familiar to all in the experience of Blacks in South Africa relegated to Bantustans (homelands) because of the color of their skin.But Carter, Mandela and Tutu were not talking about pre-1994 apartheid in South Africa. They refer to apartheid as witnessed in Israel/ Occupied Territories today in 2011. In his visit to the Occupied Territories, Archbishop Tutu said he was “reminded so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa.”At a conference I attended in Boston, South African Special Rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council African jurist John Dugard echoed what a number of my Israeli friends have reported, e.g., that Israeli practices had assumed characteristics of colonialism and apartheid. In other words, Israel’s domination of Palestinians is not an exact parallel to South African apartheid, but resembles some characteristics of colonialism as well.Aspects of colonization were fairly easy to observe over the past 40 years of my study tours in Israel and the Occupied Territories: the fragmentation of the Territories, the expropriation and annexation of Palestinian land and water—the hallmark of colonialism—plus a whole system of control over the economy to keep the Palestinians subjected. These measures leave the indigenous Palestinians with isolated non-contiguous land –“Swiss cheese” – making the idea of a sovereign viable state impossible.And then there is the Separation Wall. Perhaps the most visible parallel of South African apartheid, its title attests to the core meaning of apartheid – separation.Israelis justify it as a matter of security; Palestinians describe it as a land-grab –as it is.Two highway systems enforce the idea of separation – well lighted modern roads connecting the settlements with Israel proper for settlers only; the other poorly maintained roads for indigenous Palestinians.Less visible, but more pernicious is the control over the lives of Palestinians. Laws that restrict movement, economic development, cultural advance, educational opportunities and even family matters, for example, the July law that prohibits a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza married to an Israeli Palestinian from obtaining citizenship or residency rights in Israel.From what started as a colonial settler movement, the system of dominance of Israel over the Palestinian population, one clear parallel with South African apartheid emerges. Just as South Africa responded to resistance to the hated Pass Laws with more repression, so too Israel’s response to Palestinian resistance is to tighten the noose on Palestinians. In the late 70s, for example, Palestinians could go for a picnic and swim in the Galilee or a fish dinner in Gaza with few checkpoints or needed permits. Today that would be impossible. The situation is summed up in a March 23, 2011 report by current UN Rapporteur Richard Falk. He warns that the “intensifying deterioration of human rights in East Jerusalem including forced eviction of Palestinians from their homes and settlement expansion . . .that the cumulative impact can only be described as a form of ethnic cleansing.”How long will we Americans be complicit in this inhumane situation?
Archives
| Art | Articles
| Background
| Books | Boycott
| Cartoons | Chemical
War | Children |
Contact | Donate
| Elections |
To receive
a once-daily e-mail digest of our News and Articles content, write to
OccupationNews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OccupationNews/join
See example: Occupation News
