Should we call it apartheid?

*http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/should-we-call-it-apartheid.html

Mondoweiss
June 11, 2012
**Should we call it apartheid?*
* by Omar Baddar <http://mondoweiss.net/author/omar-baddar> *
 [image: Apartheid SA]
(Image: Carlos Latuff)

Among informed and honest observers, there is no dispute that Israel is
imposing a separate and grossly unequal system of ethnic discrimination on
the Palestinians, most blatantly in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
(OPT). Setting aside the complex system of discrimination within Israel
itself, one cannot look at the separate road
systems<http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200408_forbidden_roads>
in
the OPT, the unequal distribution of water,
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/27/israel-palestinian-water-dispute>
the systematic denial<http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/israel-occupied-territories/report-2009>
of
Palestinian building permits while Israel expands illegal settlements, and
so on, and fail to see that that this is, indeed and by definition,
apartheid.

But there remains a dispute over the political and rhetorical utility of
using the word "apartheid" to describe the system imposed by Israel on
Palestinians in the OPT. When Jeffery Goldberg asked former U.S. Special
Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell if he believed "apartheid-like
conditions prevail" in the West Bank, Mitchell
replied<http://www.centerpeace.org/highlights_detail.php?id_high2=8>
:

The issue and conflict is complex enough without the use of inflammatory
words and phrases whose only result, I won't say intention in every case,
is to create aggravation and hostility. If you can say something two ways,
and one way is bound to antagonize your opponent, and the other way can get
your point across without antagonizing your opponent, why do you choose the
inflammatory way if you really do want to accommodate their concerns and
reach an agreement?

Here, Mitchell clearly acknowledges that the West Bank is ruled by Israel
under apartheid-like conditions, but wants to steer clear of using the term
because it is "inflammatory," and is said to aggravate rather than help
resolve the conflict. In a recent
article,<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/26/show-don-t-tell-why-the-apartheid-analogy-falls-flat.html>Hussein
Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) took a similar
position, describing "apartheid" as a "conversation stopper" in the United
States. Because Americans do not know what life under occupation is like
for Palestinians, he argues, when hearing the charge of apartheid they will
"simply assume that they are being exposed to hyperbolic anti-Israel
propaganda and stop listening before they hear the facts."

He goes on to say:

It is infinitely more powerful to show rather than tell. Rather than
leading with an announcement that Israel practices apartheid, it is much
more effective to simply describe the realities: Every aspect of daily life
in the occupied Palestinian territories for every individual is defined by
whether the Israeli government categorizes them as an Israeli settler, and
therefore a citizen of the state with all the rights and responsibilities
accruing to citizenship, or a Palestinian noncitizen living under
occupation. If you simply describe life under occupation, audiences will
draw their own parallels between the occupation and apartheid in South
Africa or Jim Crow laws in the segregationist American south.

While Ibish's and Mitchell's concerns are valid, they are hardly sufficient
grounds to abandon the use of the term apartheid. This is indeed an
inflammatory word, but one which accurately describes an inflammatory,
intolerable and unsustainable reality. It is also true that it is of
course, when possible, preferable to thoroughly describe Israel’s utterly
discriminatory treatment of Palestinians. But in the media world of sound
bites, and limited opportunities to grab people’s attention, there is
typically not the time to explain these details.

In response to Israel's false buzzwords that claim it stands for "freedom,"
"peace," and "democracy," Palestinians are in need of compelling and
truthful keywords that encapsulate life under Israeli rule, like
"occupation" and "apartheid." If using shorthand for describing Israel's
oppression of the Palestinians is really a "conversation stopper," then we
need to work on changing that by making the case for such terms, not
abandoning them.

Furthermore, many academic institutions divested from South Africa during
the apartheid era, and some of them still have policies that forbid
investing in any system of "apartheid." If Israel's policies in the OPT
become widely and correctly identified as apartheid, then the potential
increases dramatically for spreading the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
(BDS) campaign that's aimed at ending Israel's occupation of Palestine
further into mainstream American discourse.

Recently, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL)
recommended<http://www.aaiusa.org/blog/entry/walsh-endorses-apartheid/>
resolving
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating a single state in which
Palestinians would have "limited voting power" (imagine how he would react
if anyone suggested his own ethnic group be denied full voting rights).
With American politicians now officially recommending what can only be
described as apartheid as a long-term "solution" for Israel and the
Palestinians, it is rather important to be blunt about what that exactly
means.

For all these reasons, our task is to mainstream the term "apartheid" in
describing the reality in Israeli-occupied Palestine. This job is half-done
for us already by  former American president Jimmy Carter, who wrote a book
called *Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.* Being categorically assertive in
describing the ongoing injustice in Palestine in simple, straightforward
terms is an essential component in our effort to end that injustice.
 About Omar Baddar Omar Baddar is a political scientist, human rights
activist, and New Media professional based in Washington, DC.
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