Civil Rights

Israeli Apartheid | Introduction

Published

March 30, 2012

The Israeli propaganda machine is in full swing this time of the year. Israel’s image as the ‘only liberal democracy in the Middle East’ continues to be tarnished as Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) and BDS (Boycotts, Divestments, Sanctions) grow as a grass roots movements on campuses across the globe. Israel’s positive image in the North American psyche is the one thing which has allowed it to continue its brutality against the Palestinians without any backlash from the general public. The fact that its image is slowly undergoing a seismic shift shakes Israel to the core.

Israel’s nervousness and isolation is best indicated by the attempts to counter this movement. It has organized massive public relation campaigns, initiated events such as Israel Peace Week and has sent out delegations on speaking tours all over the world. Condemnation of IAW pour in from right-wing politicians and media outlets continue to brand the event as a hate fest which is rooted in misinformation and anti-Semitism.

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All this comes at a time when informed commentators agree that Israel implements a system of apartheid. A recent report by the United Nations concluded that Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories ‘exhibit features of colonialism and apartheid’. B’Tasleem, Israel’s leading human rights organization, published in its report Land Grab that Israel ‘has created a system of legally sanctioned separation based on discrimination that has, perhaps, no parallel any where in the world since the apartheid regime of South Africa’. The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa also concluded in its legal study that Israel is guilty of apartheid crimes.

Why use apartheid?

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a multi-faceted one. At the core of it lies an illegal occupation coupled with innumerable human rights violations, war crimes, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, colonialism and apartheid. Solidarity activists of the past largely focused their struggle around ending the occupation, human rights violations and state-sponsored terrorism.

Focusing on the apartheid nature of the occupation represents a newer strategy in the movement, and perhaps the most effective one to date. This is a dimension of the conflict which was ignored largely in the past; partially because it is something which has developed overtime. It is the aspect of the conflict which affects Palestinians everyday. Apartheid is a term which stirs strong emotions in the Western psyche; by exposing Israel as a perpetrator of this crime one has a much higher chance of changing public opinion towards the Zionist state. This has also allowed activists to structure their strategies in a similar fashion to the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980’s. The apartheid policies of South Africa ended shortly after US withdrew its support for the regime. By forcing our governments to change their unequivocal support of Israel, we have the greatest chance of aiding an end to the conflict.

Israeli Apartheid Week is a unique (and proud!) Canadian contribution to the Palestinian solidarity movement. It started off in 2005 at the University of Toronto by a group of dedicated student activists. It was shortly followed by the BDS Call (Boycotts, Divestments, Sanctions) made by 170 Palestinian civil societies. Through lectures, protests, concerts and film screenings, this week is dedicated to raising awareness about the atrocities being committed against the Palestinian people. It also focuses on measures that can be employed by average citizens to help end Israeli apartheid. The event is now organized on university campuses in over a 100 cities across the globe.

Success of the anti-apartheid movement for South Africa was rooted in educating the public about this inhumane system. Given the lack of knowledge about this issue amongst the masses and to emulate former movement, this series will seek to inform people about what apartheid is, why it applies to Israel and how we can help fight it.

Next Post: What is Apartheid?

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Related Topics:Apartheid Islam Israel Middle-East muslims palestine Politics Racism

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Waleed S. Ahmed

Waleed Ahmed writes on current affairs for MuslimMatters. His work has focused on Muslim minorities, human rights, culture and international conflicts. Currently based out of Montreal, he holds a Ph.D. in particle physics from McGill University. Waleed also has a keen interest in studying Arabic and French. He spends his spare time reading, playing basketball and praying for Jon Stewart to run in the next presidential election. contact: waleed dot ahmed at muslimmatters.org

26 Comments

JPeditor

March 30, 2012 at 1:10 AM

a/ Muslims living in Israel have more freedom in Israel than IN ANY Arab “nation” on the planet.

ESPECIALLY MUSLIM WOMEN.

THERE IS NO APARTHEID IN ISRAEL.

b/ 90% of muslims living in Israel have NO DESIRE to live under the rule of the so-called “palestinian” Authority.

THERE IS NO APARTHEID IN ISRAEL.

c/ The so-called “palestinian” Authority has already declared that NO JEWS WILL BE ALLOWED TO LIVE in so-called “palestine”.

THERE IS THE APARTHEID, you intellectual midgets.

Go ahead and delete, this, as you do not have the capacity, nor the facts nor the stones to argue it.

So show us how cowardly you are, too afraid to let your big-time intellectual muslim and far left dhimmie audience read it.

But everywhere you post the LIE OF ISRAELI APARTHEID, the truth of the above FACTS will be plastered to make you the laughing stock of academia, and eventually of the Western world.

THEN, you can go back live in YOUR apartheid cesspool.

Reply
- Israelisaterroriststate
  
  March 30, 2012 at 3:13 PM
  
  I don’t find it surprising a jpost editor is spouting these retarded claims. Freedoms my ass. Go back to slaving for your Zionist masters you cretin. You know you’re lying and you are truly the scum of the earth.
  
  Reply
- Israelisaterroriststate
  
  March 30, 2012 at 3:16 PM
  
  By the way, do tell me where you got your sources(aka “false info”). It’s a shame you are no different than the holocaust perpetrators you cry about.
  
  Reply
- Shahriar Hussain
  
  March 31, 2012 at 7:17 PM
  
  Islam protects and free’s women infinitely more then your western standards ever will, so to say that Muslim women have no freedom in Islam is a big idiotic statement that would be said by someone who knows nothing about Islam.
  
  The tyrants who are in power in Muslim lands are hated by the general Muslim people, and they are tyrants who are backed by the West because they serve not the needs of Islam and Muslims, but the needs of Israel, the greatest transgressor of the world.
  
  Wake up and face the reality. Muslims haven’t occupied anybodies land nor transgressed against any people, nor have we oppressed anyone..
  Israel has, America has, Britain has.
  
  Reply
  - Jp
    
    April 3, 2012 at 5:11 PM
    
    “hey are tyrants who are backed by the West because they serve not the needs of Islam and Muslims, but the needs of Israel, ”
    
    Mu-ha-ha-, more islamic paranoia….”my little pee-pee shrunk, its the JOOS fault.”
    
    1300 years, you invent NOTHING but envy. Just another example of why islam is “death” not
    “peace”.
    
    Reply
    - Shahriar Hussain
      
      April 7, 2012 at 6:29 PM
      
      Do you live under a rock?
      
      Reply
    - Shahriar Hussain
      
      April 7, 2012 at 6:31 PM
      
      Because it seems obvious that you aren’t aware of anything other than what TV told you.
      
      Reply
  - Lior
    
    September 19, 2012 at 12:54 AM
    
    So the Ottoman and Persian empires weren’t colonialist examples of Muslim faith?
    
    Reply
- Robbie
  
  December 7, 2012 at 12:16 PM
  
  To JP Editor
  
  I have to agree, your post is 100% accurate !!
  
  However, I would suggest trying to tone it down a little, because your views are valuable in these debates and we really don’t want you to be barred from posting.
  
  Many of these RADICAL EXTREMISTS just need to be educated.
  
  Greg Abdul, whether I agree totally with your views or not, I appreciate your interest in lasting peace within these lands.
  LIVE AND LET LIVE
  
  Reply
Pingback: On Land Day, Australians March in Solidarity with Palestinians « KADAITCHA
Pingback: Israeli Apartheid is Worse Than Apartheid Practised by White South Africa « KADAITCHA
GregAbdul

April 1, 2012 at 11:11 PM

Yes Israel is an apartheid state. But that means the Palestinians are a part of Israel and they belong to Israel and they are being denied their birthright as Israeli citizens. And no Palestinian Arab will live with those facts. Arabs want to have it both ways. You hate Israel and say you want it abolished. Now you say they are a state who denies rights to its Arab citizens. You can’t be an oppressed minority without belonging to the state that you claim denies you full rights. Israel’s obligation is to its citizens. So if the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza want full Israeli citizenship, then you can holler apartheid and the world will be with you. If all you want is to drive the Jews into the sea,’ and this is another sorry cloaked argument, please save everyone time. Your drive the Jews into the sea nonsense has caused over 50 years of suffering. The Jews are going nowhere. If you want to live in peace with Jews and Muslims living with full rights in one state, the world will be with you. If you keep this Arab purity nonsense up, the Jews will soon completely own the West Bank and Gaza anyway. The only question is will there be Arabs there willing to live with Jews in peace or will Lukid drive all the Arabs into the sea? Please my Muslim brothers, end the nonsense. The Jews are going nowhere. So fix your political aims on living with the Jews, or prepare for the eventual mass migration of all Arabs from what used to be called Palestine. I think that’s a pretty simple choice. Please let us be a people of logic and reason and not stupid politics.

Reply
- WaleedAhmed
  
  April 2, 2012 at 4:17 AM
  
  It’s a bit presumptuous and extreme for you to suggest Greg, that we are calling here for expulsion of the Jews from Israel. It is as absurd as saying the the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980’s wanted the expulsion of white’s from SA.
  
  Israel is an apartheid state because it implements apartheid policies on the Palestinians. The end to this system could come through a two-state or one state solution…the latter of which is unlikely.
  
  Muslims and Jews living in peace is nothing new; in fact that has been the historical norm. It will happen again God willing.
  
  I encourage your to read the remainder of the series before jumping to conclusions about what is being called here.
  
  Reply
  - GregAbdul
    
    April 2, 2012 at 7:30 AM
    
    as salaam alaikum,
    
    It is not presumptuous. It’s old clearly articulated and spelled out political dogma. It is an Arab dream to see the end of the State of Israel. That is why many do not recognize Israel. The reason for the Western insistence of the two state solution is that many Palestinians have no desire to live in and share a country with Jewish people. Brother if we are all honest, this decades of debate takes only two seconds. There is ONE land. There are two peoples. Jews and Muslims living in peace has happened in the past. Today, in Israel, it is clearly not happening. This thing where we deny obvious realities works against oppressed Muslims. The Jews are not going anywhere. So if we want peace and prosperity for the Palestinians, the goal has to be full Israeli citizenship and not a separate state. Then your cries of apartheid are real. Right now the Palestinians are nothing more than Arab separatists, refusing to move off to Arab lands, in the hope that one day they can drive off the Jews. The hardliners on the Jewish side think exactly the same way. What my Muslim brothers and sisters need to realize is that the Jewish hardliners have the advantage, so if there is a real separation at this point, it is the Palestinians who will be left holding a bag of nothing. There is no second state to be had. So either the Arabs of the region have to move to Jordan and Egypt if they are really stuck so much on pure Arab blood, or they have to truly join modern integrationists and begin to demand Israeli citizenship. I will read your series brother. Al hamdulillah for Muslims Matters. But this is not a new issue. How many hundreds of thousands of Jews live in the West Bank? I am no Zionist. I know they take unfairly. The question is how to stop them. The answer does not lie in separatism. In South Africa, no one demanded the whites leave. So if you are going to copy the name of the freedom struggle of Africans, then see that they never sought to drive the whites away and even more importantly, set up reconciliation as a central goal of the new democratic state once apartheid was abolished. Are the Palestinians interested in a reconciliatory one-state-for-all existence in the Middle East? If not, it will be the Arabs who end up leaving. The choices here are old and simple and the problem is all the cloaked and fake language. May Allah guide us to be open and give us guidance.
    
    Reply
    - N Iqbal
      
      May 22, 2013 at 4:51 AM
      
      Brother.
      
      When the crusaders occupied Jerusalem for 100 years there were Muslims like you who came out with various reasons why the occupation could not be reversed. Then Allah (SWT) blessed the Ummah with Salahudeen Ayubi (RH) who achieve what Muslims like you thought was impossible but Muslims of belief never doubted.
      
      Your belief in Allah is weak or you would never think the things you have said let alone propagate them in them writing.
      
      I suggest you do sincere taubah and learn what Allah (SWT) says on this matter and stop following your own desires. May Allah (SWT) guide you.
      
      The only Islamic solution for Palestine is for it to be liberated under the leadership of a sincere Khalif. The responsibility on our necks is to work for the re-establishment of the Khilafah based on the method of RasulAllah (SAW). Any other solution is a false solution which deserves humiliation in this life and severe accountability in the Hereafter.
      
      Reply
  - Jp
    
    April 3, 2012 at 5:13 PM
    
    “It’s a bit presumptuous and extreme for you to suggest Greg, that we are calling here for expulsion of the Jews from Israel. ”
    
    Are you stupid or naive?
    
    WHH do you think arafats’ keffiyeh crease AND the PA maps are all about:
    
    “From the Jordan to the Sea, koranustine Will be Jew-Free!”
    
    Reply
concernedstudent

April 23, 2012 at 11:08 PM

Hi, I’m a rising academic trying to learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have heard of claims, like the one on this site, that Israel is considered an Apartheid state. I don’t see how this is possible, as, after doing extensive research, I have discovered that Israel provides full equal rights to its Arab citizens. How could it be that an Apartheid nation would condone an Arab-Israeli Supreme Court judge to punish a Jewish Israeli PRESIDENT of Israel. Israel has indicated, as far as I’m concerned, that it is surely not an Apartheid country.

On the contrary, I have heard the claim that in the West Bank, the Arabs there are not given equal rights; however, they are not citizens of the state of Israel. Many of these supposed refugees seek to undermine Israel in every respect, so how could Israel attempt to embrace them?

I really do not understand these claims of Apartheid, but I would like to hear an enlightening perspective. Can someone please inform me further on this issue? Thanks.

Reply
- WaleedAhmed
  
  April 27, 2012 at 1:42 AM
  
  Keep reading the series. You will be able to look past the propaganda that is being fed to us.
  
  Reply
- Robbie
  
  December 7, 2012 at 12:22 PM
  
  To Concerned Student
  
  You have obviously studied well !!!
  Your views are 100% accurate and we need your views to be heard on web sites like this.
  
  Please keep up the posts as many of the writers on this site(not all) only want the destruction of Israel and the Jews.
  
  Reply
Special K

May 1, 2012 at 2:21 PM

Israel will be viewed historically as
1. An oasis of democracy in a despotic desert.
2. An island of modernity in a medieval sea.
3. etc.

Reply
Pingback: Why Israel is an Apartheid State | Introduction « BloomingPeaches – Sit. Think. Imagine
Pingback: Israel and Apartheid | Part 1 - MuslimMatters.org
Lior

September 19, 2012 at 12:52 AM

All this article states as proof is a UN report stating the recent settlements are unjustified and nothing about Israeli “apartheid.” Nice try guys….If Israel is truly apartheid, why have 63 Arab Israelis been elected in parliament? Why are Arab Israelis granted the same rights as any other Israeli???

Reply
Pingback: Israel and Apartheid | Part 2 « BloomingPeaches – Sit. Think. Imagine
Pingback: Israel and Apartheid | Part 2 - MuslimMatters.org
Robbie

January 2, 2013 at 7:05 AM

Haha !!

Sorry to laugh on your website, let me explain!!

Over the last couple of months i have been reading the debates and opinions on MM, a lot of which has been based on the Israel/Gaza conflict,Apartheid Israel and who started the last round of trouble in Gaza.

I have to say and this is not aimed at ALL readers/writers, I was flabbergasted at the attitude of some of your patrons, some of whom live in the western world.

However my reason for laughing is quite simple:
On every ANTI ISRAEL / JEWISH TOPIC, the right wing fanatical nutcases, have been silenced by writers posting accurate facts about each situation!!

I mean if you read above from the intellectual who calls himself ISRAELITERRORISTSTATE, it is a delight to see these fools are being given accurate lessons and have no grounds to reply!!

Keep up the good work guys, you know who you are

LIVE AND LET LIVE

Reply