Israeli Apartheid

by Ben White | History |
ISBN: 0745328873 Global Overview for this book
Registered by keithpp of Farnborough, Hampshire United Kingdom on 11/19/2010
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Journal Entry 1 by keithpp from Farnborough, Hampshire United Kingdom on Friday, November 19, 2010

Zionist colonization, even the most restricted, must be terminated or carried out in defiance of the native population. – Ze'ev Jabotinsky

We must expel Arabs and take their places. – Ben-Gurion

Ben-Gurion was right … Without the uprooting of the Palestinians, a Jewish state would not have arisen here. – Benny Morris

There is a fundamental difference in quality between a Jew and a native. – Chaim Weizman

‘Disappearing’ the Arabs lay at the heart of the Zionist dream, and was also a necessary condition of its realisation. – Tom Sagev

There is no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed. -- Golda Meir

An ideology that divides those who are worth more and those who are worth less, into superior and inferior human beings, does not have to reach the dimensions of the German genocide to be wrong. -- Amira Hass

I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about. — Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Israeli Apartheid by Ben White - a slim beginner's guide.

Why do people in the West have such little understanding of Israel, its founding principles, its aims, the ethnic cleansing to clean the land that Jews believe is theirs by God-given right? To be fair, there is understanding in Europe, the problem lies in the English speaking world. It was to address this ignorance and lack of understanding that Ben White wrote this slim beginner's guide.

Apartheid is one racial group using human rights abuses to achieve superiority over another racial group who they deem to be inferior to another.

South African visitors to Israel-Palestine immediately recognise a system of apartheid in place. Desmond Tutu was shocked by what he found. [see Apartheid in the Holy Land]

To understand the State of Israel, a state that is unique in that it is the state of all the Jewish people no matter where they live, but not the state of all its people, one has to go back to the principles of its Zionist founders.

It was August 1897 in the Swiss city of Basle a meeting of Zionists took place. What they agreed was to lead to the founding of Israel in 1948 in what was then Palestine under British control.

The idea of a Jewish state was the the brainchild of Theodor Herzl, who wrote in his diary:

At Basle I founded the Jewish State. If I said this aloud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive this.

That Palestinians lived in the land on which the Zionists had their eyes was of no consequence, their promised land, those who were there now were to be driven out by terror. Arabs were slaughtered in cold blood in their villages, half the population fled, and contrary to International Law, never to be allowed to return. Those who remained were placed under martial law and subject to curfew, travel restrictions.

Zoning laws made many of the Arab settlements illegal, and thus could not be officially recognised. Land that had an absentee owner was confiscated by the state, to be used for Jewish settlement. By these means land was acquired, the State of Israel established.

But this was to be only the beginning. The Zionists saw the current borders as for the first 20-30 years. Israel was to expand until it occupied all of the Promised Land.

The next phase of expansion took place during the Six Day War in 1967. Israel took over the West Bank and the Gaza strip and both came under military rule. Illegal settlements and roads have fragmented the West Bank. A map of the settlements could be a a map of the key water resources which Israel now controls. Gaza has been turned into an open air prison, the Siege of Gaza maintaining the population at near starvation level. Bethlehem is encircled by the Apartheid Wall. East Jerusalem has expanded its boundaries into the West Bank almost cutting it in half. Arabs within the expanded boundaries have residency status which can and often is terminated.

House demolition is used within Israel and the Occupied Territories as a means of population control.

There are those who are resisting. Within Israel challenges are brought within the courts. Activists from abroad help to bring in the olive harvest, bear witness to the abuses that take place. Beyond Israel-Palestine support is given by purchase of Palestinian products such as Zaytoun fairtrade olive oil, boycott of Israeli goods.

A useful list of organisations is provided.

For anyone who knows nothing of Israel-Palestine, this slim volume is an excellent beginner's guide.

Signed copy!

Also see

Israeli Apartheid – A talk by Ben White

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