Sari Nusseibeh, professor of philosophy, president of the Al-Quds University and former PLO representative in Jerusalem, examines the political and religious traditions which a ‘Jewish state’ of Israel would either flout – or not wish to be part of

South African Shafiq Morton found much of his critique of Zionist blindness was no longer controversial. The sticking point for his readers was Hamas;despite experience with the ANC of the gap between demagoguery and practical negotiation they could not hear the nuance.

If Israel’s control of Gaza were about preventing ‘terror’, why block the work of fishermen and farmers and prevent the export of goods from Gaza asks Ben White? Only blocking Israel’s policies of colonialism and apartheid will free Palestinians to be economically and politically productive

Ilana Hammerman looks at the published evidence, which the Israeli middle class won’t read, talk about or listen to, on how their army is controlling the OPT, and what this is doing to their own young people in the IDF; Asa Winstanley reviews a new book on apartheid in Israeli prisons and how Shin Bet works in prisons and universities to extend the rule of the security services

Last February, guitarist Dave Randall said on South African radio ‘Twenty years ago I would not have played in apartheid South Africa; today I refuse to play in Israel. Be on the right side of history.’ Complaints were made. Today they have been rejected

Former Chairman of Canadian commission for combatting anti-semitism says criticising Israel for war crimes may be distasteful but it’s not anti-semitic. Irwin Cotler is not the only defender of Israel who is impatient with this glib charge

Birmingham band Napalm Death have agreed to play in Tel Aviv this Friday, June 17th. Palestinian youth organisations have appealed to them to apply their principle of boycotting apartheid South Africa to ‘Apartheid Israel’

Carne Ross invites ideas for his list of the acts that can bring down dictators and oppressive regimes. And Occupations?

Hussein Ibish reminds us of the renewed importance of the Arab League’s 2002 commitment to establish normal relations with Israel and asks what Israel gains from ignoring it.

The Vanguard Leadership Group of African American students is placing ads in student newpapers attacking the term ‘apartheid’ as describing the treatment of Arabs in Israel. AIPAC has been encouraging this group for some years. The ad is misleading as ‘apartheid’ clearly describes the physical separations enforced in West bank and Gaza, whereas the ad refers to Israel itself.

Roi Maor writes: “The Knesset passed a segregation bill today. Palestinian Israelis are not allowed to live in Jewish localities built on land confiscated from them.” It is apartheid in all but name, but building on a racial segregation that has long existed in Israel’s unequal and unholy allocation of land to it citizens.
Update: Ben White’s Open Democracy article Land, citizenship and exclusion in Israel, has been added to this post

Ran Greenstein provides a nuanced analysis of the Israel/Palestine reality which he characterises as ‘apartheid of a special type’ – a unique system that combines democratic norms, military occupation, and exclusion/inclusion of extra-territorial populations. He argues further that one approach to challenging this system would be to foster a bi-nationalism that would accommodate members of both national groups as equals, and facilitate negotiation underpinned by the discourse and values of democracy, justice, equality and human rights, rather than those of diplomacy and statehood.

Dozens of top municipal rabbis, their salaries paid by the state, signed a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles – a move particularly aimed against Arabs – and defended their decision with the declaration that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews. “Racism originated in the Torah,” said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. “The land of Israel is designated for the people of Israel. This is what the Holy One Blessed Be He intended…” Prime Minister Netanyahu harshly condemned them and said such declarations were unacceptable. It will be interesting to see what he does about it…
PLUS: A late addition (posted 12 Dec): Richard Silverstein writes: “I couldn’t have made this up myself if I’d tried: the rabbis of the largely Yemenite city of Rosh Ha-Ayin, including the chief rabbi, declared a ban on hiring Arabs at stores which employ Jewish girls. I swear to you, it’s true…
And the Magnes Zionist writes of the “downhill slide of much of modern orthodox Jewry into what one may call ‘Kahanism lite’.”

In this long, two-part analysis Ran Greenstein casts a refreshing eye over the whole debate about Israel and apartheid. In it he argues that “The notion of apartheid may be applicable in different ways to different components of the system. While Israel clearly is different from South African historical apartheid, in crucial respects it has affinities with apartheid in its generic sense.”

See the introductory comment to Part 1 in the posting above

Rela Mazali of Jewish Peace News introduces An Assault on Democracy by Ishai Menuhin, of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, drawing attention to former Israeli judge and current legal affairs editor for the right-leaning and largest Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Aharonoth, Boaz Okon, who has “called a spade a spade using both the forbidden words; apartheid and fascism…”

Chris McGreal reports: “Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state’s possession of nuclear weapons…”

We recently linked to Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s defence of Richard Godlstone in a posting on “The Get Goldstone campaign”. Here veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Benjamin Pogrund reviews Polakow-Suransky’s new book, “The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship With Apartheid South Africa”.

Rachel Shabi writes: “The ban on Palestinians using highway 443 has been lifted but sidestepped by the Israeli army. It’s bare-faced segregation…”

A new personal attack is being mounted against Justice Goldstone, accusing him of crimes under apartheid. As Sasha Polakow-Suransky of Foreign Policy writes: “Goldstone’s apartheid-era judicial rulings are undoubtedly a blot on his record, but his critics never mention the crucial part he played in shepherding South Africa through its democratic transition and warding off violent threats to a peaceful transfer of power — a role that led Nelson Mandela to embrace him and appoint him to the country’s highest court. More importantly, [Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny] Ayalon’s and [Knesset Speaker Reuven] Rivlin’s moralism conveniently ignores Israel’s history of arming the apartheid regime from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s…