[p2p-research] Fwd: ZNet Daily Commentary: Israel Is an Apartheid State and That is Why They Are Losing Legitimacy By Judy Rebick

[Michel Bauwens]

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Date: Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Subject: ZNet Daily Commentary: Israel Is an Apartheid State and That is Why
They Are Losing Legitimacy By Judy Rebick
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com


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Israel Is an Apartheid State and That is Why They Are Losing Legitimacy

March 4, 2010 By *Judy Rebick*

Judy Rebick's ZSpace Page <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/judyrebick>/
ZSpace <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/>

Before Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) even began members of the Ontario
Legislature and the Canadian Parliament are falling all over each other to
denounce it. I can't remember another time when elected legislators formally
denounced a student activity like this. Perhaps during the 1950s when
McCarthyism was rampant but that was before my time.

Last week the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed a resolution denouncing
Israel Apartheid Week submitted by PC Peter Shure who said calling Israel an
apartheid state was "close to hate speech." While there were only 30 MPPs in
the Legislature at the time, NDP MPP Cheri di Novo was one of them and spoke
in favour of the resolution. This week a Conservative MP is introducing a
resolution calling IAW anti-Semitic.

Before I deal with why these unprecedented attacks are taking place, I'd
like to share with you a great talk
<http://www.zcommunications.org/israeli-apartheid-week-toronto-by-naeem-jeena>I
heard last night at Ryerson from Na'eem Jeena activist and academic from
South Africa who works for Palestinian solidarity. He told us that South
African apartheid had three pillars of apartheid and Israel shares all
three.

*1.* *Different rights for different races*. In the case of Israel, it is
different rights for Jews and for non-Jews. For example the law of return of
1950 says Jews can return to Israel and be given citizenship even if they
have no links to the country other than mythical biblical ones; whereas
Palestinians cannot return even if their parents or grandparents lived
there.

*2.* *Separation of so-called racial groups into different geographical
areas*. Even within the borders of Israel, 93 percent of land is reserved as
a national land trust or Jewish National Fund land is for the exclusive use
of Jews. The 20 percent of the population that is Palestinians living in
Israel have to share access to the 7 percent of private land that is left.
The Israeli Supreme Court has made a number of decisions that Palestinians
cannot live on Jewish lands. There are not only residential areas that are
banned to Palestinians but there are separate roads for Jews and
Palestinians. That was never true in South Africa even in times of crisis.
Moreover Palestinians have less access to water than Jews living nearby.

Finally the movement of Palestinians is severely restricted much more so
than were blacks in South Africa. The famous pass laws in South Africa meant
that blacks had to show government issued passes to move around but
Palestinians are even more restricted by walls and checkpoints and if they
live in the Gaza Strip can't leave at all.

*3. Security and Repression Matrix of Laws and Security.* There was serious
repression in the black townships but there were never tanks or planes
buzzing overhead like there is in West Bank. Israeli military violence
against Palestinian communities, says Jeena, is far worse than anything
suffered by blacks in South Africa during apartheid.

If Israel is becoming a pariah in the world it is not because of
anti-Semitism, it is because they are practicing a form of apartheid even
more egregious than that practiced in South Africa. Others have compiled
comments from some of the most respected leaders of the anti-apartheid
movement in South Africa who see what Israel is doing as apartheid. There is
a reason why the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign is
strongest in South Africa. People there recognize apartheid when they see
it.

Finally the UN Convention on Apartheid condemns the crime of apartheid that
refers to a series of inhuman acts - including murder, torture, arbitrary
arrest, illegal imprisonment, exploitation, marginalization, and persecution
- committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the domination
of one racial group by another. If the shoe fits.

So why are politicians including some from the NDP setting a student
activity like IAW in their sites? An all party coalition of parliamentarians
has been holding hearings on what they call the "new anti-Semitism," by
which they mean criticism of Israel. They heard from every University
President who appeared before them that there is no rise of anti-Semitism on
their campuses and yet the false rumours of such a rise persist because of
the equation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Israel is beginning
to see that the non-violent anti-apartheid and BDS (Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions) movement is a greater threat to their power than the any military
threat. In Israel and Palestine, they are moving to arrest non-violent
activists who are leading the movement there. And they are using all their
economic and political power to push friendly governments to move against
these protests. But there is a problem. It's called democracy and freedom of
speech. However much you might disagree that Israel practices apartheid, you
cannot shut down a discussion of the issue or a demonstration or
disinvestment campaign against Israel because freedom of speech is a
fundamental democratic right in most Western countries. In Canada, the only
way to shut down the movement is to vilify it as hateful or anti-Semitic.
That is what our parliamentarians are now trying to do.

I am Jewish and have been working on and off for Palestinian rights for many
years, as have many other Jews who feel a special responsibility to speak
out against injustices committed by Israel. During that time, I have rarely
experienced any anti-Semitism. In the IAW organizing, I have experienced
none. If Israel is losing legitimacy in the world, it is because of what
their government is doing to the Palestinians, not because of anti-Semitism.
This attempt to shut down criticism of Israel is the most frightening
assault on freedom of speech I have ever seen in this country. Whether or
not you think Israeli Apartheid Week is the best name for this week of
discussion supporting Palestinian rights, please write your MP and your MPP
and tell them you think it is wrong for Parliamentarians to denounce this
kind of educational activity. o

Judy Rebick is the CAW-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy and
maintains a blog at transformingpower.ca where this article first appeared.
------------------------------

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