How can Israel be compared to Apartheid-era South Africa?
Many argue that the apartheid policies of South Africa are not comparable to a “democratic” government like Israel; that all Israeli citizens are equal under law. Yet Israel’s legal and political structure has always been directed towards keeping the Palestinians separate from the Jewish population. Just as the apartheid South African government discriminated against blacks, so the Israeli government discriminates against Palestinians. South Africa was a country in which a minority of white immigrants exercised control over a majority of indigenous black people. The Blacks were denied access to the best land, and were forbidden from traveling without a “pass”, from one area to another. The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is very similar. A minority of Jewish settlers lives in the territories with a majority of Palestinian people. Israel controls the daily lives of the Palestinians, who, unlike the settlers, cannot vote in Israeli elections. Settlers seize the best lan
