Apartheid

A Palestinian man tries to stop work by an Israeli bulldozer on a new Jew-sh-only settlement, during a protest outside the village of Deir Qaddis, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, July 13, 2016.
Nazareth.
Israeli and US officials are in the process of jointly pre-empting Donald Trump’s supposed “ultimate deal” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They hope to demote the Palestinian issue to a footnote in international diplomacy.

Israeli Defense Minister Yaalon shakes hands with former Saudi intelligence chief, Turki al-Faisal. (Photo: Ariel Harmoni/ Israel Defense Ministry)
Those who claim that Israel is opposed to Donald Trump’s now openly warm relations with Saudi Arabia are missing the actual point.
On the surface, many assume that Israel and Saudi Arabia have poor relations. Neither country has diplomatic relations with one another, one is a self-styled Jewish state while the other is a Wahhabi Sunni monarchy.

 
 
On April 17th at least 1500 Palestinian prisoners launched a hunger strike of indefinite duration, responding to a call from Israel’s most famous Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti. It also happens to be that Barghouti is the most popular political leader, far more liked, trusted, and admired that the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Barghouti is serving a series of lifetime terms for his alleged role in directing an operation during the Second Intifada in which five Israelis were killed.
 

Using the same apartheid-era tactics that kept blacks out of the labor markets, London and Delhi taxi driver unions have been lobbying the local authorities to eliminate the competition for them. If they can make it too expensive for Uber to employ drivers, they can reverting back to the monopoly that allowed them to charge exorbitant fare prices.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pauses during his speech to stare at the audience during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. (AP/Seth Wenig)
Israel has greenlighted a national debate on a controversial bill that would anchor the apartheid state’s status as solely a Jewish one, further discriminating against Arabs and setting up a further barrier to a peace process with Palestine.

In the UK you can start a petition on the Government website. If it reaches 10,000 signatures you get a response from the Government. If it tops 100,000 it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed cohorts of Israel loyalists in the United States by video link last week at the annual conference of AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.
They should, he said, follow his government’s example and defend Israel on the “moral battlefield” against the growing threat of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. In Mr Netanyahu’s simple-minded language, support for Palestinian rights, and opposition to the settlements, is equivalent to “delegitimisation” of Israel.

Ce jeudi 30 mars 2017, alors que Mme Aliza Bin Noun, ambassadrice d’Israël en France, devait prendre la parole dans le cadre d’une conférence organisée à Sciences Po Rennes, des étudiants de l’école sont intervenus pour dénoncer la politique de l’état d’Israël.

[Prefatory Note: This post was originally published on March 22, 2017 by The Nation under the title “The Inside Story of Our UN Report Calling Israel an Apartheid State,” the text of which can be found at this link: https://www.thenation.com/article/the-inside-story-on-our-un-report-calling-israel-an-apartheid-state/ What is below is somewhat modified.]
 
 
Is Israel an Apartheid State?