What is Hebrew for "Apartheid" ?

Notice any similarities ?

On the left we have a map of the infamous "Bantustans", the allegedly independent states created by South Africa in furtherance of their policy of apartheid or racial separation.

That policy eventually collapsed and, with it, the whites-only regime that designed and executed it.

On the right, we have a recent map of the West Bank, site of the future "independent" Palestinian state. For the legend and other assistance in interpreting the map, see the Palestine Monitor, HERE.

So, besides making many supporters of Israeli West Bank policy cuckoo by comparing it to South African apartheid, why are we doing this ? Education, the only reliable path to lasting peace in the Middle East.

This time our lesson comes from a Guardian writer, Chris McGreal, who has lived for many years in South Africa and several years in Israel. It is not a polemic ("an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another"), but a dispassionate consideration of the similarities and differences in the two regimes.

Perhaps the key observation: both the white South Africans then, and the Israelis now, consider themselves the victims of the systems they created.

The piece is long (two parts, click through to the second), thoughtful and very much worth the reading.

Our thanks to Sam Bahour, again, for the pointer to this one.

So, read, ponder and

Stay Naked
JD