#234: Israel is Neither Colonizer Nor Apartheid State

We are hearing terms like “Colonizer” or “Apartheid State” used to describe Israel. They are used for two reasons: Some are legitimately frustrated with the status of Palestine and Palestinians, especially those living in the West Bank and Gaza. They do not have their own state yet, and their political rights are not protected in the same way as those of others. But others use the term “occupation” and mean the entire territory of Israel and Palestine, and call even recognized Israeli territory occupied. In such an understanding, the above mentioned terms are popularized in order to stake such a claim and deny the existence of Israel itself.

These terms are wrong, no matter how many people may be using them.

First of all, we need to make sure we understand what the terms mean.

“Colonizer” is typically a term used for people who take possession of lands that did not originally belong to them or their ancestors, and they discriminate those who are indigenous to the area. Now, in the case of Israel, this cannot be the case – the state of Israel has been colonized instead by a succession of empires and states (Roman, Byzantine, Califate, Crusader, Ottoman, British etc.) and in a process of decolonization, Jews were finally allowed to return to their indigenous homeland after centuries of diasporic and colonized and precarious existence. Israel is their home. Sadly, in the process, the people who had colonized the area or had stayed under the colonizers had become basically indigenous themselves. We are thus not talking about colonization proper but about two indigenous groups claiming the same land, one with an older claim (Jews), the other with a more recent but also established claim (people who are now called Palestinians and who may have Arab, even Jewish, or mixed Levantine heritage). This is not colonization, this is a tragedy that calls for compromise. This compromise was reached by the United Nations in 1947, and immediately rejected by the Arab states surrounding Israel, who then attacked and terrorized Israel – and the so-called occupation of the result of Arab aggression against the compromise. Israel conquered Arab territory in the process of defending itself, and once agreements could be reached, even returned it – such as Sinai to Egypt in 1982 the return for peace, and Gaza to Palestine in 2005. Gaza is free, bordered by Israel and Egypt, and could have succeeded as an independent state, yet Hamas terrorism has forced Israel to set up a blockade. Hamas is to blame here, not Israel – as the Sinai example shows. Similarly, the Camp David peace process could have led to a comparative result plus peace, but Arafat rejected it, and here we are. The occupation of the West Bank could have been over in 2000, and yet here we are.

“Apartheid” is a term specific to South African and Namibian history, and described the segregation by law imposed on the state by European colonizers. An intricate system of racial separation governed each and every aspect of South African life, till it ended after decades of mostly peaceful resistance led by Nelson Mandela in 1991. It is comparable to the American system of racial segregation that ended in the 1960s. Both systems were based on the racist assumption that black and white people were not the same, should not mix, and could not have the same political rights. Citizenship was denied to groups of people seen as non-white, in the case of South Africa, indigenous people, and in the case of the United States, both indigenous people and former trafficked slaves and their descendants. As an added complication in South Africa, British colonizers that began to invade Dutch South Africa in 1795 also discriminated against former Dutch colonizers (the “Boers”), who had arrived since 1602.

In contrast, in Israel, about 20% of citizens are Arab, and religiously, they can be Muslim, Christian, Druze or others. They have full citizenship rights. There are several Arab Israeli political parties, and Arab Israelis serve in the military and police. Currently, one Israeli Supreme Court judge is Palestinian, 17 out of 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament) are held by Arab citizens, and some have been cabinet ministers. Arabic is also one of Israel’s official languages. None of this supports the notion of apartheid.

That doesn’t mean that all is well – and some hardline right-wingers have pushed against the current state of affairs – but such bigoted movements exist in every country.

As to Gaza and the West Bank, Gaza is not occupied, as mentioned before. The West Bank is a different matter, and continued Jewish settlement and dispossession of established Palestinian people in the area is certainly a problem. Some of the behaviors of settlers are criminal, and some indeed act as colonizers, and Palestinians are certainly right to claim victim status in the area. Continued removal of Palestinians from ancestral lands in these occupied territories is not contributing to any sort of reconciliation and peace. Neither though is the refusal of Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian organizations to reject terrorism, to respect democracy and democratic rights of Palestinians.

Israeli citizens themselves are regularly calling out the behavior of radical settlers, and they regularly criticize the ongoing occupation, as any reader of Ha’aretz can easily see. Even now, after the pogrom conducted by Hamas – and the continued attacks against Israel – there are Israelis and Jews all over the world criticizing the actions of the Israeli government. There are even Jewish supporters of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement (BDS) – a movement that I would consider deeply antisemitic. In contrast to what happens in Palestinian areas, in Israel and the Western world, public opinion is free, diverse, and very much engaged in what is happening.

What now?

The use of terms such as “colonialism” and “apartheid state” is clearly motivated to support anti-Israeli activism, and have the world treat the state pf Israel as the state of South Africa was treated in the past, in order to force the end of Apartheid. But such calls are counter-productive as their aim is too broad, too unfocused, and ultimately, antisemitic.

There needs to be a clear support of the State of Israel, a rejection of terrorism, a rejection of anti-democratic institutions such as Hamas, a call for full democracy in Palestine, and a call for peaceful cooperation between Israel and Palestine.

Israel wants security, wants peace, wants cooperation. Many if not most Palestinians want the same. Hardliners and criminal organizations like Hamas want to erase Israel and Jews “from the river to the sea.”

Hamas needs to be defeated, but Palestinians and Palestine need to be liberated from extremists in their own ranks and from right-wing extremists in Israel.

A solution is possible, but demonizing and false terminology only feeds the extremists.

There is only one path: For Israel, for Palestine, for Peace, together.