Wednesday Debate: “Are Israel and Apartheid South Africa Really Different?”
Posted by Ali Yenidunya in Middle East & Iran
A debate between Haaretz’s Akiva Eldar, who asked on Monday, “Are Israel and apartheid South Africa really different?” and David Newman of The Jerusalem Post, who replied, “Security or Discrimination?”:
ELDAR
The day after the murder of the settler Meir Hai about 10 days ago, Major General (reserve) Amos Gilad was asked to comment on the claim by settlers that the attack was able to take place because roadblocks had been lifted on West Bank roads. The security-political coordinator at the Defense Ministry told his radio interviewer that the policy of thinning out internal roadblocks has greatly contributed to the West Bank’s impressive economic growth. According to Gilad, who until recently was coordinator of activities in the territories, the improvement of the Palestinians’ economic lot has contributed substantially to Israelis’ security.
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An army man, who is not suspected of belonging to a human rights organization, thus upsets the simplistic and most accepted formula: restrictions on Arabs means more security for Jews. The Supreme Court ruling last week to lift the ban on Palestinians using Route 443 shows that members of the judiciary also no longer stand at attention when they hear the magic word security. Nonetheless, the judiciary members, like politicians and the media, still find it hard to let go of their paralyzing dependency on this term. This is intentional: If discrimination is not mandated by security considerations stemming from the threat of Palestinian terrorism, how can we diagnose this regime as segregationist? If it is not diagnosed as such, there is no need to treat it.
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