Students for Justice in Palestine have designated this week on campus as Israeli Apartheid Week, and are sponsoring events to educate students about the situation of the Palestinian people. I am sure that many students have found themselves wondering, “what does it mean to be an apartheid state, and is Israel guilty of behaving in such a manner towards the Palestinians?” Israel extols itself as the “only democracy in the Middle East,” as well as a shining example of tolerance, particularly towards those in the LGBT community. They often hold up examples of minorities who have achieved high positions, such as the Arab justice on the Israeli Supreme Court. This branding, coupled with the United States’ unwavering endorsement and support of the state of Israel and its actions would make it seem far-fetched that Israel is perpetuating something akin to crimes against humanity.
In order to make sense of all of this, we must first have an understanding of apartheid and how it is manifested. Certainly, the first thing that comes to mind with term apartheid is the period of extreme racial segregation in South Africa. Apartheid in South Africa grabbed the world’s attention. They vowed never again to sit by as this crime was committed, so in 1978 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. The convention defined apartheid as, “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group over another racial group and systematically oppressing them.” Additionally, it was defined that apartheid states rely on three pillars to maintain their system: Preference for a certain identity codified into law, the population segregated into different geographic areas by identity and security laws and policies that suppress any opposition to the regime.
Given these definitions and an examination of Israel’s record, numerous international bodies of legal experts have consistently found that Israel is in fact guilty of the crime of apartheid. These are not isolated incidents nor activists posing as scholars; this finding has been substantiated by the most highly revered people and bodies in the international community, such as United Nations Special Rapporteurs, the International Court of Justice, independent tribunals, former US President Jimmy Carter and professors from leading universities around the world, including those within Israel. The most recent example of this finding is from the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, composed of the most renowned scholars of international law, which found in November 2011 that, “Israel’s practices against the Palestinian People are in breach of the prohibition on apartheid under International Law.”
To summarize briefly, there is sufficient evidence that Israel maintains its apartheid system pursuant with the three pillars defined above. First, Israel has entrenched a preferred identity by
establishing a system that privileges Jews. This is manifested as affording certain rights to Jews, and even special benefits to Jewish settlers, but denying non-Jews the rights to housing and natural growth, freedom of residence, leave and return to one’s country, unify with one’s family, citizenship, movement permits, economic rights, trade unions, education and free press. Second, Israel maintains a segregated geography and exploits the resources of Palestinians.
Israel has appropriated more than 50 percent of the West Bank for the exclusive benefit of Jews, including settlements and outposts, nature preserves, special security zones, the Wall, agricultural development for Jewish settlers, closed military zones and a Jews-only highway system. The most prominent exploited resource is water, which Israel diverts all of Palestinian Jordan River water and 87 percent of Palestinian ground water to the state of Israel proper and to the illegal Jewish settlers. Lastly, Israel has established a matrix of security laws to suppress opposition. Examples include the extensive use of military courts, mass incarceration of Palestinians, prosecuting children, restriction of freedoms of assembly and association, persecution of opposition organizations, restrictions of prisoner’s rights and cruel and inhumane treatment.
In conclusion, even according to the highest standards of proof under international law, it has been found that Israel is an apartheid state. Like other apartheid regimes, the Israeli system will certainly crumble from its moral foundation and events like Israeli Apartheid Week are making that possible.
– Victoria Porell is a middler international affairs major.
