Apartheid Israel: The Politics of an Analogy

Why is Israeli an apartheid state, you ask? Per the book “Apartheid Israel” - ◾ It is based on an ethnonational distinction between Jewish insiders and Palestinian Arab outsiders. This distinction has a religious dimension—you can join the Jewish group only through conversion—but is not affected by the degree of religious adherence. ◾ It uses this distinction to expand citizenship beyond its territory, potentially to all Jews, and to contract citizenship within it: Palestinians in the occupied territories cannot become Israeli citizens. Israel is open to all nonresident members of one ethnonational group, wherever they are and regardless of personal history and links to the territory. It is closed to all nonresident members of the other ethnonational group, wherever they are and regardless of personal history and links to the territory. ◾ It is based on the permanent blurring of physical boundaries. At no point in its sixty-seven years of existence has its boundaries been fixed by law, nor are they likely to become fixed in the foreseeable future. They are thus permanently temporary, porous in one direction, through expansion of military and civilian forces into neighboring territories, and impermeable in another direction: severe restrictions or prohibition on entry of Palestinians from the occupied territories and the diaspora into its territories. ◾ It combines different modes of rule: formal democratic institutions to the west of the Green Line and military authority with no democratic pretensions across it. In times of crisis, the military mode of rule tends to spill over the Green Line to apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel. At all times, civilian rule spills over the Green Line to apply to Jewish settlers (in the West Bank). The distinction between the two sides of the line is constantly eroding as a result, and norms and practices developed under the occupation filter back into Israel—as the phrase goes, the “Jewish democratic state” is “democratic” for Jews and “Jewish” for Arabs. ◾ It is in fact a “Jewish-demographic state.” graphy— the fear that Jews may become a minority—is a prime concern behind the policies of mainstream forces. All state structures, policies, and efforts aim to meet the concern for a permanent Jewish majority exercising domination in the state of Israel.

A really great interrogation of important ideas around the character of the state of Israel, and how it overlaps (and in some cases doesn't) with Apartheid systems in Africa in decades previous.

Anyone who spends at least 10 minutes in Israel can see with their own eyes it is not apartheid. Even the title of this book is bigoted.

Good book, A good look into what is going on in Israel.

Why are there Arabs in the Israeli parliament, in the court systems, in the police force and army?

Terrible book