Israel Apartheid...

By Natashia Hajee


Looking through articles on Haaretz led me to one that discusses how the world looks at Israel in the same light as Apartheid-era South Africa. The world has been extremely critical of Israel recently and the UN issue clearly shows that the Israel is losing its popularity. They are being looked at as the bully in the room, but nations are not as scared as they used to be.


The article at hand discusses how the bulldozing of homes does not only affect the Palestinians, it affects all that live in the region. "Stealing land and illegal construction, evacuating a few buildings and rebuilding them, the state's report to the High Court of Justice that by the end of the year it would evacuate all outposts built on private Palestinian land - all this is not new. These events repeat themselves like the periodic table." The problem within Israel is that Netanyahu is facing freezing construction in the territories, the real-estate bubble, the housing shortage and the sky-rocketing prices. All of these issues are threatening Netanyahu's power position within Israel. 


The article realizes that the world does not care about Israel's internal problems, instead they are simply looking at Israel as the only democratic state in the Middle East, which is continuing to occupy land, which in turn creates more conflict within the region.


The conflict is looked at as Apartheid. Israel as the oppressor. The world is looking to events in Bil'in and the destruction within the occupied lands, the removal of Palestinians from their homes, the violence from settlers, and the death toll. All of these issues lead the world to ignore all of Israel's accomplishments and their internal conflicts which should also be important. The problem is the bad far outweighs the good. 


Considering that it is Israel Apartheid Week this article is extremely relevant. The world has begun to look more critically at Israel and are voicing these opinions. It is not fair that Israel is solely looked at as the negative force and that no one is paying attention to the other issues within the state. Having said this it is unrealistic to assume that the world would be focused on anything else. The media feasts on the negative issues within the world, you rarely see accomplishments making the headlines. It is death, destruction, and injustice that will attract the attention of most media outlets, as well as the viewing audience. While Niva Lanir makes a good argument about how the world is ignoring Israel, the author is also belittling the issues at hand. 


Link: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/world-looks-at-israel-as-it-looked-at-apartheid-era-south-africa-1.348047