{"id":139537,"date":"2019-08-05T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=139537"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:41:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:41:41","slug":"unlike-south-africa-the-world-is-giving-israel-a-pass-on-apartheid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/08\/unlike-south-africa-the-world-is-giving-israel-a-pass-on-apartheid\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlike South Africa, the World Is Giving Israel a Pass on Apartheid"},"content":{"rendered":"

A UN Security Council resolution rejecting\u00a0South Africa\u2019s 1983 constitution shows that there is precedent and necessity to act\u00a0against Israel\u2019s Nation-State Law.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Simon KAPWEPWE (standing), Foreign Minister of Zambia, addressing the Seminar on Apartheid, Racial Discrimination and Colonialism. 4\/Aug\/1967
\u00a0(UN Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

26 Jul 2019 – In a referendum on November 2, 1983, White voters in apartheid South Africa approved a new constitution<\/a> to restructure their political system. In addition to consolidating executive power with the presidency, a tricameral parliament was established to grant segregated representation for Coloreds and Indians, with the White chamber holding the parliamentary majority. Non-whites were appointed to various public positions, and some economic and social restrictions were repealed. Black Africans, of course, remained excluded from the electorate.<\/p>\n

Proponents of this reform hoped it would make apartheid more sustainable by assuaging growing opposition at home and abroad. It didn\u2019t. The following year, the UN Security Council declared the new constitution \u201cnull and void\u201d with Resolution 554<\/a> (13 in favor, with the U.S. and U.K. abstaining). Affirming the \u201clegitimacy of the struggle \u2026 for the elimination of apartheid,\u201d the Council accused the constitution of seeking to \u201ccontinue the process of denationalization of the indigenous African majority, depriving it of all fundamental rights, and further entrench\u00a0apartheid<\/em>, transforming South Africa into a country for \u2018whites only.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution went further, rejecting \u201cany so-called \u2018negotiated settlement\u2019 based on bantustan structures\u201d or on the new constitution. It called on governments and organizations not to recognize the 1984 elections (the first under the tricameral system), and to support the transformation of South Africa into a non-racial democracy. In short, the world was not buying Pretoria\u2019s attempts to beautify its regime. Apartheid had to go.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Israel youth walk in Jerusalem\u2019s old city, as they take part in the flags march, to celebrate 48 years for the occupation of East Jerusalem May 17, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n

When Israel\u2019s Knesset passed the \u2018Jewish Nation-State Law\u2019 one year ago this month, it effectively declared apartheid<\/a> the constitutional law of the land. Yet the responses of the international community have hardly matched those toward South Africa 35 years ago. Some like the European Union have publicly raised concerns about the Basic Law\u2019s effect on Israel\u2019s minority citizens and democratic values; but for the most part, they have treated it as an internal matter that they cannot interfere with, at least until the Supreme Court completes its judicial review.<\/p>\n

This tepid reaction is disturbing given the severity of the new law. Among other provisions, it asserts<\/a> that the right to national self-determination in the state belongs to Jews only; it demotes Arabic<\/a> from its status as an official language; and it encourages exclusive Jewish settlement as a \u201cnational value.\u201d This discrimination has always existed through government policies and other legislation<\/a> since 1948; but now, as a constitutional compass, it further narrows the channels left inside the state \u2013 particularly for Palestinian citizens \u2013 to challenge these practices.<\/p>\n

More dangerously, the law solidifies the single regime<\/a> that oppresses all Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line. Spurred by the U.S.\u2019s endorsement of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, the Knesset<\/a> is advancing legislation aimed at annexing settlements and other swathes of Palestinian lands, which would extend the Basic Law\u2019s jurisdiction deep into the occupied territories. Even without formal annexation<\/a>, Israel\u2019s \u2018permanent occupation\u2019 is already securing Jewish supremacy between the river and the sea, thus fulfilling the law\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n

Taken altogether, Israel\u2019s political regime is a striking reincarnation of South Africa\u2019s model in 1983. It offers the vote to Palestinian citizens under the guise of democracy<\/a>, while disenfranchising the majority of their brethren living under the state\u2019s rule. It maximizes the privileges and living spaces of Jewish citizens, while fragmenting and caging<\/a> Palestinians into segregated, pseudo-autonomous enclaves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The UN Security Council, December 18, 2015 (United Nations Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

And yet, for all these similar features \u2013 which Palestinians had identified\u00a0long before the Nation-State Law ever existed \u2013 a resolution like 554 would be unthinkable today. Unlike with South Africa, the world has long given Israel an exception to pursue its own form of apartheid.<\/p>\n

Far from questioning the legal hierarchy between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of the state, foreign leaders are pledging to protect Israel\u2019s \u2018Jewish character\u2019 and demographic majority<\/a>. Instead of challenging the power dynamics that entrench the status quo<\/a>, governments are gluing themselves to a peace process<\/a> that has shredded a Palestinian state into bantustans. Rather than affirming the legitimacy of the struggle\u00a0to end the occupation, legislatures are decrying any nonviolent action and criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

History, however, shows that there is precedent and necessity for international action. Instead of parroting praise<\/a> of Israel\u2019s \u2018democracy\u2019 on election day on September 17, governments should be calling out the fact that over half of the state\u2019s subjects<\/a> have no say in the regime that rules them. They should be rejecting the Nation-State Law and endorsing\u00a0efforts to build a democratic, non-racial, and rights-based future\u00a0\u2013 just as Resolution 554 did. The world\u2019s message should be as clear today as it was three decades ago: apartheid has to go.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Amjad Iraqi<\/a> – I\u2019m a Palestinian citizen of Israel and have lived between Israel-Palestine, Kenya, and Canada.\u00a0I\u2019m an advocacy coordinator at Adalah<\/a>, a policy analyst for\u00a0Al-Shabaka<\/a>, and a contributing editor at\u00a0<\/em>+972 Magazine<\/a>. Currently in Haifa. Views here are my own.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 972mag.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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