A report recently released by a respected Israeli human rights group characterized Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as “apartheid”. B’Tselem, a leading human rights organization established in 1989 said “This is not democracy plus occupation, this is apartheid between the river and the sea”, according to a FinalCall.com article citing an AP news report. The term “apartheid” envokes thoughts of South Africa’s system of White rule and racial segregation.
B’Tselem’s use of “apartheid” signals a shift in their political thinking. B’Tselem’s director El-Ad points to two recent developments that altered B’Tselem’s thinking. The first was the “contentious” 2018 law that defined Israel as a “nation-state of the Jewish people, downgrading Palistinians to second-class status and formalized discrimination. The second was Israel’s 2019 announcement of its intention to annex up to a third of occupied West Bank, including all of its Jewish settlements.
After more than 53 years of Israeli control, there is no longer much hope for a two-state solution. For over a decade there have been no substantive peace talks according to FinalCall.com. El-Ad said, “Fifty years plus, that’s not enough to understand the permanence of Israeli control”. “It is “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid,” said B’Tselem according to CNN.com.
FinalCall.com reported that “Israel has further entrenched its rule over the West Bank, Israeli writers, disillusioned former generals and politicians opposed to its right-wing government have increasingly adopted the term”. Nabil Shaath, a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “It is a state based on racist decisions aimed at confiscating land, expelling indigenous people, demolishing homes and establishing settlements.” El-Ad said. “The point is that there isn’t a single square inch between the river and the sea in which a Palestinian and a Jew are equal”.
