Israel's apartheid is worse than South Africa's

Let me know if you still think Israel is an apartheid state after reading this http://www.jcpa.org/text/apartheid.pdf

Legally there is no comparision. Apartheid is based on racial supremacy. Race is immutable or unchageable. It is fixed. Religion is mutable. A jew can become a buddhist, catholic. Look at jewish history, i.e the inquisition. This analogoly that Israel is an Apartheid Stae is legally misguided by some of those who respect the so called "elite international lawyers". Irrespective, it is not a legally sound principle and serioiusly misguided.

Israel seems to have forgotten what it is like living in a ghetto surrounded by manacing walls bristling with guns. It has forgotten what it is like being brutally subjugated and mercilessly humiliated. It has turned a blind eye to the horrors of being discriminated based on race. It has ignored the lessons of it's own history. Injustice and oppression is inherently short lived. Enjoy it whilst it lasts.

John Stephens gave a pretty good description of Apartheid as it was practiced in South Africa. (South African's invented the term anyway!). When we discuss Israel vis-a-vis Apartheid we should distinguish between areas in Israel (proper), the areas under the control of the Palestinians, and the areas within Palestine but occupied by Israeli settlers (and therefore under the effective control of Israel). If all inhabitants in Israel proper do not have equal social and legal benefits, it is Apartheid. If Israeli's living in the settlements (within Palestine) have different social and legal benefits from the Palestinians living in the same areas (next to the settlements), it is Apartheid. That there may be Palestinians (let's call them Arabs) in the IDF and in the Knesset doesn't mean Apartheid does not exist. And if Apartheid does exist in Israel, is it worse than it was South Africa? Well Mandela a Tu Tu say it is, and they are better placed to judge than some of the Wally's here.

Apartheid is defined as separate development - backed by laws that define individuals' social and legal rights on the basis of their birth/race/religion etc. So is what is happening in Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and other parts of the Land of Israel 'separate development'? i.e. does one person living in Hebron have the right to free movement in and around the Land of Israel, the right to vote for the Knesset, the right to travel on the basis of his or her racial background while their next door neighbour does not have the same travel, voting, labor rights - because of what is on their I.D.? If the answer is yes, then it is apartheid. If no, then it isn't.

Define Apartheid. Define apartheid, and then we can talk.

Then again Israel bashers would not have anything to fall back on without selective memories

Arab apartheid and Malaysia amongst others are a disgrace no wonder the left needs to yell Israel at every opportunity to draw attantion away from their pets.

for the collapse of the talks and not accepting the Clinton plan,Israel did.! Wanna see a phony? Look at what Arabs say in English then look at what they tell their people in Arabic.

You tell em Ruth!

He said not too long ago that he is perfectly willing to wait Israel out since life in the West Bank is pretty good. I don't think the South Africans would ever have said the same.

Laying the problem solely at Israel's feet won't bring about peace. It will just worsen things. Both sides need to compromise. As long as people like you continue to give the Pals a free pass, you'll continue to screw everyone involved. Prodding Israel is good, but do the same to the Pals.

Yitzhak Laor, we do not belong to the same wôrld

The UNSC veto vote is the only thing that looks normal in the United Nations. At the state level liberal democracies put together two contradictory principles. Liberalism and democracy. The American founding fathers undertsood very clearly that the worst of all factions in a state, is the democratic faction. CJ wants a United Nations democracy, which is worst that the democratic faction in a country. The Security Council and the veto of the U. States, sets limits to the bunch of "criminal states" that atribute themselves the right to define on human rights issues. Pathetic.

The author should learn the meaning of words like apartheid before he makes comparisons to South Africa & Israel SOUTH AFRICA The blacks were just as much citizens of the country as the whites officially. The difference was that because of their skin color they were not allowed to travel on the same busses, live in the same areas, do certain jobs, vote & many more basic rights even though they were all citizens of the same country. The palestinians are not Israeli citizens and never have been so they are not legally entitled to any of the rights given to Israelis. The palestinian issue is a territorial conflict, one of many going on worldwide but the only one that anybody seems to take any notice of. Israel legally captured a piece of land in 1967 from Jordan & Egypt and now another group of arabs want a state in this land. The fact Israel is the occupier and will remain so until it agrees to give it up doesn't entitle palestinians to the same rights as Israeli citiznes.

Rerouting settlement. You keep fighting over same land. Has anyone thought of the other land to fight over really. You keep fighting over the same land. Has anyone thought of saving up funds and buying more land for Israel the three stated nation? Really open your mind. To raise the oxygen level of the mind plant more trees and shrubs. We need to plant 50 percent more trees to counter act the carbon footprint and increase oxygen on the planet worldwide even drought areas. This increases industry and life. Can you make wood cloth? We need to reoxygen the oceans. Do we put bubble nets around oil rigs. Does the chance for entrapping sea life increase. What do we do? Think of ways to stop fighting please. Rankoo

Not true. it can also be a goose. and if you are so good in pointing fingers why not continue with. 50 Muslim state who discriminate not only religion but gender. but those are not ducks. they are penguins.

Palestinian arab national identity and the low population in the swampland of Israel before 48 shows an intent to cast Israel in a bad light and rewrite history.Everyone knows that there was no Pal arab and that Egyptian born nazi inspired Arafat was their first leader and that they were crafted as a group by the muslim brotherhood to destroy Israel.To call Israel apartheid and compare to south africa where whites came and moved out blacks is not only unfair but is disgusting and a distortion of history.Iran/Hamas and the caliphate machine is active is demonizing Israel but you can't rewrite history or all Israel names when the Islamic regimes practice apartheid and discrimination every minute and everyday on Jews,Christians,sikhs,hindu's,bahai's women, gay, freedoms of press and speech. Israel gives so many rights to its enemies it is unbelievable.

They have been lying about the occupation since their claims of desire for peace back in '93. Netanyahu was probably quietly happy when hearing Rabbin got shot to death. And when he got elected in 96, his work was only about the destruction, bit by bit, of the peace-process. Now that Likud, Labor and Kadima brought that sick game to a dead end, they are trying to find another strategy to continue occupation. I would not be surprised to see Israel bypassing the US on a strike against Iran or Hezbollah to put the emphasis on a new war rather than on peace talks. This is their game... since 1993 they have been bent on stopping their own creation: The two-states solution.

Palastinians and Israelis are in WAR , Yitzhak Laor should go to Sderot and tell them it is not so. So what apartheid? what did Yitzhak Laor wanted??? Comparing our situation with apartheid is a neoantisemitic fashion. Our situation has nothing to do with the apartheid in SouthAfrica , Yitzhak Laor showed he does not realise but do bagatalizes the situation of the discriminated people of SouthAfrica during the apartheid. Comparing Israel with the SouthAfrican regime during the apartheid is just a cheap populistic way. Articles like these are the same as of this swedish journalist with his gossipstory about organ selling soldiers.

I don't know why some people are so upset about this article. Israel has many laws which openly discriminate against non-Jews. You can't call Israel a democracy if it has one law for one person and a different law for for his/her neighbour. Check out some of your laws which discriminate in favour of Jewish people and remember that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a DUCK! http://www.divestmentproject.org/apartheid_laws.shtml

OK, so I am still waiting for Mr. Laor's argument that Israel's "apartheid" is worse than South Africa's. Did I miss something here? Mr Laor maintains that Rabin should have expelled the settlers after Baruch Goldstein's murderous rampage. OK ,so let met ask this, after the Second Intafada should not Arik Sharon have expelled the Paletiunans? Or is justce exacted only from Jews? Now as to Obama being like other US presidents. Hmmm.... Tell me Mr. Laor what other US president compared Palestinian suffering to the Holocaust? (See Obama's Cairo speech speech) What other US President entirely ignored the historic attachment between Jews and Eretz Yisrael? (See the same speech). What other US Ppresident spoke openly about dividing Jerusalem? Take your time in answering... Grant Freedom

Ho Danny boy. you are an antisemit in the first degree. it is not what you wrote by the way you ended it. boycott out of existence.and if you know so much about Apartheid which you don't you would have known the different . in South Africa it was done out of Ideology in Israel to protect it's existence.but .... it is people like you who twist the truth.

You seem to have forgotten the Bantustans. The Israeli equivalent is occupied Palestine. They say it's a temporary arrangement, while Israeli settlers flood in, but we all know that the Zionists will never willingly give it up, just convert it into a few Bantustans. The world refused to recognise the independence of Transkei and the rest, and they will refuse to recognise the independence of Netanyahoo's version of 'Palestine'. Mandela, Tutu, Slovo, Kasrils and others have called the Palestinian situation 'worse than Apartheid' and they are the expert witnesses.

The author is 100% correct that Israeli apartheid is worse than South Africa. After all, who was South Africa's BEST FRIEND back at the height of apartheid in the 70's? You guessed it - none other than good ol' Israel. And today, Israel has naturally assumed the role left over with the disappearance of its good friend. The time has come to do to Israeli apartheid what was done to S.A. one - boycott it out of existence.

I see that you don't know much about South Africa. The ANC and its leader, Nelson Mandela, were never non-violent pacifists. Mandela was jailed for his alleged part in a bombing campaign. If you knew more about South Africa, you would see how the Israeli plans for for Palestine are the same as SA's plans for the Bantustans. You would also see that your excuses for Zionist oppression are the same as those for Apartheid. The Afrikaaner Nationalists also bleated on about threats from the black majority on SA and sent their troops into the neighbouring states. Apartheid SA also had US support until almost the end.

Yitzhak Laor's commentary is right on target. Israel is a bi-national apartheid state. Israel does not want to give up the territories and Israel's apartheid is worse than that of South Africa. Sadly, I believe that many Israelis don't give a damn about the injustices the Israeli state and the settlers have been heaping on Palestinians since the inception of the state - and even before. And, sadly, I believe that no matter what Israel does, whether it is complete ethnic cleansing or squeezing Palestinians into small walled in compounds there will be no outcry from the U.S. A tap on the wrist maybe but the money will keep flowing in.

You attitude leads only to inter-ethnic strife, which I suppose from your point is fine, as long as you have the upper hand. Well, the tide of history tends to flow in cycles: today's centurions are tomorrow's plaintiffs for peace. Attitudes such as yours are dangerously immature. Why don't you try identifying with human beings instead of ethnicity? Sad to see that one who presumably is saddened by what had been done in the name of ethnicity during the Shoa, should support such ethnocentric attitudes 60-70 some odd years later. As the song asks: "When will they ever learn?"

Sorry guys. I take my wards back. Levy is not the only Intellectual stupid moron, Laor is right next to him. but the different between the two. Laor writes better. using bombastic wards with very little meaning, yes it does make the impression for some people that he is smart.but in reality he writes so much about nothing.and it is very creative.

Would you travel to an Arab town at night by yourself? How much DO YOU REALLY trust the Arabs that they wont kill you bec/ you are a JEW?

Israelis must all work to change that IMAGE.

the anc has not adopted the concept of non violence until today the plo and hamas failed to see the virtue of the non-violent society israel has been attacked by unprecedented violence and barbarism when yitzhak laor sits down at the computer he can google the arab, iranian, syrian terror and .... and advise the nations of iran and palestine to change course urgently........

the anc has not adopted the concept of non violence until today the plo and hamas failed to see the virtue of the non-violent society israel has been attacked by unprecedented violence and barbarism when yitzhak laor sits down at the computer he can google the arab, iranian, syrian terror and .... and advise the nations of iran and palestine to change course urgently........

I think you have no idea of what apartheid was. It was the oppression of millions of blacks who rarely dispayed any violence towards the oppressors (only towards the end of the apartheid regime there were isolated cases)Here we are the ones being threatened, bombed,surrounded by millions who wish our destruction.How can you compare?

Any truly honest Israeli knows this to be the case. However, sadly most of my fellow citizens choose to believe the lies told by our politicians and most of our media - after all it is much more comfortable to continue believing that we are the victims than to face the fact that we have become the oppressors.

Stupid article by extreme left winger..

Because last time I checked- Jews were a CULTURAL AND RACIAL MINORITY. what's the matter, Shlomo? isn't our cultural, religious and racial identity worth preserving? Do you judge other minorities for prioritizing the interests of their own people over the interests of others? Who knows, maybe if we'd spent thousands of years colonizing the world and waging wars, instead of getting killed, we could afford to be as 'culturally sensitive' as the Europeans. You know, the ones who thunder at us from pulpits floating in rivers of blood. I'd feel terrible about the "apartheid" situation in Israel, Shlomo. Really, I would. But I'm too busy being thrilled about the fact that thanks to that "situation", Jews still exist.

This is so truly disgusting that it made me want to wretch. In South Africa, we had commissions checking racial white purity. Laor are you certifiably insane. The Blacks in my country were the vast majority, were not allowed to vote or enter many areas without passes. You insult people in South Africa by implying that Israel is anywhere near like my country (or worse??!??). Haaretz, do you have any standards?

I really don't understand how Ha'aretz can call itself an honored journalistic publication after having read such an empty article riddled with slogans and bias. Israel's "Apartheid" which does not exist on paper is worse then SA's official one because it's "indefinitely temporary". Yitzhak Laor, you are correct. How do you wish Israel and the US impose to end the temporary situation and bring in peace? Does peace come after "Apartheid" and what happens if you remove an Apartheid that never existed? I think the opinionated person should be careful to understand what he is witnessing, and applying the correct terms. Otherwise, he is guilty of misrepresenting the facts. That isn't journalism.

... predicting that the EU and its members will not do anything against an ethnic cleansing of Arabs from Israel proper and the West Bank. The EU just recently shot itself in the foot with giving an "opt-out" from the human rights charter to the Czech president Vaclav Klaus. From now on human rights issues can't be a serious obstacle. Even Israel could apply for a full membership asking for an "opt-out".

Apatheid eh? See what Sari Nusseibeh professor at Al-Quds and previous minister with Arafat: See what Sari Nusseibeh Professor at Al-Quds (Jerusalem) University says about Israeli Arabs : Are the Palestinians and the Israeli Arabs part of the same people? Well, yes, they are and they aren?t. The Israeli Arabs are Palestinians in one sense, but they?re very much Israeli in another. They look upon themselves as Israelis; they see themselves as part of Israel, which is peculiar. For instance, if you went to an Israeli Arab - Muslim or Christian - and said, ?Look, in a future agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, we are going to be able to include where you?re living in a Palestinian state,? he?d probably say, ?No thank you; go away.? [he laughs] If you were to ask him why, he?d say, ?This [Israel] is my country. This is my state. I?ve grown up here. I like it here. And I look at you over there, and I don?t like what I see.?

as i read through laor's article i kept saying to myself "this man is sick, he must say something soon", but nope ! i didn't get it. i wonder whether it is any different in hebrew? g-d forbid.....

Official definitions of apartheid, such as that of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 2002, define apartheid as committed by one racial group over another racial group, which is not the case here. As to brutality, the Palestinian leadership, at least, created that reality in the region by assuming it would be easy simply to resort to genocide against the Jews (a time-honored method, so they figured they would just get on the bandwagon) by starting and continuing to participate in the 1948 war against the Yishuv/Israel that was explicitly presented, to the UN itself no less, as a "war of extermination."

You need to read the "International Religious Freedom Report 2009" on Israel and the occupied territories from the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor It begins "The Israeli Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty provides for freedom of worship and the Government generally respected this right in practice. While there is no constitution, government policy continued to support the generally free practice of religion." And then it describes a host of practices that demonstrate how sanctimonious and mendacious Israeli governments at various levels have acted in practice.

What some Israelis simply can't come to terms with is that Israel has become an example of a state that practices separate-but-not-equal application of its laws. Israel, as some like to remind us, is a Jewish state and its practices are more often than not antithetical to equal application and protection of its laws. How many Jewish homes have been destroyed, how much money is spent on Jewish vs. Arab education? Oh, you can point to so-many Arabs in the Knesset, but we know how mendacious and two-faced the Israeli government---be it Labor, Likud or Kadima--- and the Israeli bureaucracy can be.

There is no apartheid in Israel not even in the territories. Apartheid was about pure racism. Isarael "no arab roads" in the territories is about protecting life. It could be a wrong policy in order to protect settlers. However,despite Laor nonsense, the most likely development is that part of the settlers will become sooner or later citizens of a Palestinian state,or return home, and most of them will be annexed to Israel. Arabs annexed will obviously enjoy political rights. In exchange, Israel will probably say good bye to Wadi Ara and its arab israeli citizens that will also remain in their houses and towns, but will be belong to the new Palestinian state.

apartheid? where? you can't even give any examples -- because there aren't any!! israel is an apartheid state as much as england or the US is an apartheid state. israel has arab knesset members, public sector employees, university students, army officers (druze and bedouin) and arabs in every other sector of society. the fact that there may be discrimination on the part of some people is, once again, just like any other western country -- whether against the blacks, asians, arabs or any other minority. please try and get your facts straight before writing such a waste of time of an article.

When the ANC members who fought against Apartheid visited Israel more than a year ago, they themselves declared that the Apartheid in Israel is worse than South Africa. Stop attacking this author or even throwing sand in the face of the readers to confuse them. I highly doubt that anyone here is in a better position to assess Apartheid than black South Africans (and by the way, the claim is that ruling over the West Bank too is where the apartheid enters in). Oh yes, these "former Terrorist" ANC members who fought side by side with Jews against Apartheid in SA are now revered heroes. So too will the Palestinians, and Israelis better start to get their stories straight for when it ends - surely not everyone will be able to say they were against it the whole time.

despite ALL the denials of its citizens and supporters, there's really no way to cover it up any more. but "apartheid" is south african. israel's rendition of it has no unique classification as yet.

Whites who didn't like the apartheid state left from the 60'sonwards. I suggest mr Laor,you leave Israel if youfind it so distasteful. There are any no. of Arab countries you can emmigrte to.

Teitel is a settler, so all settlers are bad Teitel is an American, so all Americans are bad Teitel is a heterosexual man so all heterosexual men are bad Teitel is a Jew, so all Jews are bad what other conclusions can we make?

How many blacks in professions dealing with whites? How many black Supreme court judges? How many professors? How many black people lived in cities like Tel Aviv? Haifa? etc etc etc. Why is there no complaints about reverse discrimination in SA or their support for Mugabee? After all you just want'justice" right? Can you try being factual instead of repeating slogans?They only work when you people repeat them to each other.

Yes, there are problems, but it ain't apartheid. In the North, there are some Jews who fear that the Arab . . . In fact, there are some Jews in Gush Dan who join the Arab cause when they protest the Judaization of the Gallil when they read about the establishment of Jewish "settlements" on the hilltops of the region, and this is within the Green Line. Perhaps there are situations where Arabs might find it hard to rent flats in Gush Dan, though I have heard that some Israeli Arab Palestinians have left the North for Tel Aviv and environs and found it quite comfortable, so . . . Can't say what this Laor dude is smokin', but as the oldtimer in Fibber McGee says it, regarding the what he writes, "That ain't the way I heerd it".

on what Israel has become. An Apartheid state and worse than South Africa. It sure as hell took some doing to catch up and surpass South Africa's ugly, inhumane, immoral and pernicious system. Israel has done in spades. Bravo, Israel!

The south african comparison is pathetic because the arab world and the iranians treat african blacks like second class citizens. When sudan's leader was charged in the world court they rushed to sudan to offer him support. They support his war against darfur which is genocide. To keep comparing israel to south africa is wrong because hamas supports the sudan leader who is committing genocide against black africans in darfur.

You sure sound like you really hate the idea of of good things happening to the Jewish State. Do you wonder why you want to side against your own with your enemy? Is it somehow empowering? I suggest you see a shrink instead of publicly try to convince the world that you and your pals are the only insightful people.

whoever wrote this ridiculous article is either on drugs, or worse, an ideological left wing zealot. Whathas Teitel got to do with anything? He is a nut job, with a previous criminal history, who even kills traffic cops. he is nto being run by any group, rabbis, politicans or others. Some secular criminals exist as well, just look at Israel's jails. If they are homegrown secualrs, then does that mean ( by the same false logic) that Israelis are all murderers? This is the way of the extremists, when they don't get their way, they start writing stupid and hateful articles.

How utterly depressing. The pain of watching this obscene situation continue. Why not watch Israel under Netanyahu and the settlers ethnically cleanse all Palestinians from the land. Israeli's understand what ethnic cleansing means ... tragically. The US, the UK and France will stand by Israel. While the UK and France set the scene and the US has taken on the mantle since Truman they will support the completion of the ambitious dream to establish a Jewish state without Palestinians. Then the likes of Murdoch can be relied upon to massage the public with the new narrative of the area.

I guess no one wants to watch the little heifer destroy the china shop as it throws a tantrum.

Drivel! Junk! A bunch of cute words that do not say anything! A waste of print -- and time!