IS THE ISRAELI 'PEACE WALL' JUST ANOTHER FORM OF APARTHEID?

IS THE ISRAELI 'PEACE WALL' JUST ANOTHER FORM OF APARTHEID?

[+] ballot by B_P

Taken from an article in Harper's January 2005 issue:

"This is where the demographic argument gets you. You put West Bank Palestinians behind a wall where economic life is virtually impossible, and you hive off another hundred thousand Arab Israelis and put them behind the wall, too. Meanwhile, you expand your border to include non-Jewish settlements and maintain existing political economic barriers for Arab Israelis, a barrier of institutional practice and law, a barrier of land and common ideology. You say Jews and Arabs must be separated because even if Israel's Arab citizens make the most of what liberties Israel gives them, they could not possibly want to be absorbed into Israel. And after all of this, you suppose yourself a democracy because you represent the general will of the "Jewish majority." But is the choice really Apartheid or binationalism?"

We all know what Apartheid is/was but for those who don't know what binationalism is here is a brief description.

The idea of binationalism called for the establishment of the Federal Union of Palestine-Israel with a joint capital in Jerusalem.

In your opinion is the wall really Apartheid or Binationalism?

Apartheid
Binationalism
Step towards 2 states solution

Register to submit choices

Ballot #83913 : SEE RESULTS

Comment:

Register to submit comments
You may still vote without registration

show your vote with comment?

v 2.0 © BESTANDWORST.COM

smile bank:

COMMENTS:
Apartheid, pure and simple.

by True_US [+]

Making Israel a binational state has never been a serious plan of any of the sides involved in the conflict. Calling the wall Apartheid wall, suggests that somehow binationalism is presented as the goal of the Israelis. Israel (and the Palestinians) has never declared it's going in the binational route, it has chased the 2 state solution from the beginning of the peace process. If you look at the wall in the perspective of 2 state solution, it makes all the sense in the world, as countries do have border barriers between them, especially when hostile forces from one territory infiltrated and terrorizes citizens in the other territory. The only obstacle in the way of achieving the 2 state solution (agreed by the 2 sides) is the terror and the lack of efforts and results of the Palestinian internal struggle to stop terrorism.

by Yosi [+]

Yes, Israel's plan is to have an all Israeli, non-Arab, Jewish population.

by Liberal_Democrat [+]

LD, don't forget to add "living side by side in peace with a Palestinian state". And even that statement won't be correct, as formal Israel never declared it'll seek to extract the Arab population living in 1949 Israel from the state. Though I think that it's only fair since Israel is forced to pull its citizens out of the Palestinian territories.

by Yosi [+]

Apartheid, by definition.

by Counciltucky [+]

When I went to Northwest Missouri State, the NWMSU chapter of Amnesty International made a big 'wall' out of garbage bags and put it in between the Student Union and the Bell Tower -- right in an area of heavy foot traffic -- to demonstrate what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians. As much as I agreed with AI's position, it was the most asinine demonstration I've ever seen -- the garbage bag wall looked unbelievably tacky, the wall was sabotaged because it was obviously in everyone's way, the AI chapter put up signs implying that whoever sabotaged the wall inherently supported the segregationist position, and the AI chapter threatened to sue the school because of the people who sabotaged the 'wall'.

by Counciltucky [+]