Is Israel Guilty Of Apartheid Against Palestinians?

 The News Cover: Many people think of Israel and Palestine as two countries at war, with this one — a state for Jewish people — occupying this one here, where Palestinians live. The truth is, both Israeli Jews and Palestinians live all over this territory, ruled by one government and one army, based on the idea of: advancing the supremacy and domination of one group of people, Jews. 

And that is what guides its policies and its practices towards Palestinians. In other words, apartheid. Apartheid is a loaded word, tied to the racist South African regime of white minority rule. But, although the word comes from there, apartheid isn't just a description of what happened in South Africa. It's actually a crime against humanity under international law. In 2021, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of carrying out apartheid. 

It based this accusation on the 1973 apartheid convention and the 1998 Rome Statute, which say that three elements have to occur for the crime of apartheid to apply. They are: like denying people the right to leave and to return to their country, expropriation of land and property, and the creation of separate reserves and ghettos. So let's see if any of these apply to Israel's rule over Palestinians. 

About half of the people that live here under Israel's rule are Palestinian, and the other half are Jews, like myself. For those 7 million Israeli Jews, almost the entire land is one space. Whether they're here, here, here or here, they have the same rights, privileges and legal status. They can move freely, vote in the same elections and live under the same laws. The boundaries are invisible to them. 

But for the 7 million Palestinians, the boundaries are very visible. Whereas this is essentially one space for Israelis, Palestinians have been divided into four areas. Each area gets a different colored ID card issued by Israel, and your life and rights are determined by that ID card. In Gaza, Palestinians have no freedom of movement and are under a complete Israeli blockade. Israel no longer has soldiers inside Gaza, but it controls every aspect of life from the outside. 

People in Gaza have no civil or political rights. They've got no say in the Israeli government that controls them. Palestinians in the West Bank also have very limited freedom of movement, with their population divided into 165 disconnected cantons cut off by Israeli military checkpoints, walls, settlements and other infrastructure. They also have no civil or political rights in Israel. In East Jerusalem, Palestinians generally have more freedom to move, but Israel can take away their right to live in the city. 

They can't vote in Israeli elections, and Israel also bars them from taking part in Palestinian politics. Palestinians who are citizens of Israel can travel relatively freely, but they face restrictions on where they can live. They can vote in Israeli elections, but face legalized discrimination. Yara Hawari is a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. This ID system, it penetrates all areas of life where you live, where you study, what you work, etc. Even the more intimate areas of life, such as who you marry. 

That's because, for the most part, a Palestinian can't pass on their ID status to their spouse. And this has huge implications on where they can live. Many indeed actually end up leaving and choosing to live abroad because it is that difficult. On rare occasions, Palestinians are able to change their ID, but only in one direction. 

So, for instance, if a Palestinian from East Jerusalem moves somewhere else inside the West Bank, they could lose their residency in East Jerusalem and Israel. Since it's considered that a downgrade, then that's a direction that would be feasible. And further down the line, again from Israel's perspective, if West Bankers move to the Gaza Strip, then that's a direction that Israel will accept, but not in the opposite direction. 

So while Palestinians are granted different rights based on their IDs, nowhere do those rights match those of Israeli Jews. Looks like we can check off at least one of the elements required for apartheid to apply. When Israel was founded in 1948, 700,000 Palestinians had fled or been forced out. The result was that the new state had a Jewish majority. To maintain that majority, Israel has never allowed the refugees to return. 

The Palestinians who remained were given Israeli citizenship, although they were kept under strict military rule for 19 years. But, in 1967, when Israel occupied more lands, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it faced a problem. It wanted the land, but didn't want the Palestinians on that land. So it's refused to extend citizenship to the rest of the Palestinians under its control, while keeping them under military rule ever since. 

To further control the ratio of Palestinians to Israeli Jews, Israel still bans Palestinian refugees and their descendants from moving into any of the territories it controls, while encouraging any Jewish person anywhere in the world to immigrate to Israel, even if they've never set foot there before. In Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities actually have a population target: 60% Jews to 40% Palestinians. 

Palestinians in Jerusalem are only granted a "permanent" residency permit, even if they've been living in the city since before Israel was founded. About 350,000 Palestinians are in that status, which is Orwellian the way it's defined, because the only thing permanent in permanent residency is that it can actually always be taken away. These permits can be revoked if a Palestinian moves out of the city. 

But Jewish Israelis living in Jerusalem never lose residency, even if they move to the other side of the world. This discrimination has been enshrined in Israeli law. The 2018 Nation-State Law says that Israel "is the nation-state of the Jewish people." That means that even Palestinians with Israeli citizenship aren't considered equal to Jews with Israeli citizenship. As Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it, but rather, So let's go back to to that list from before. 

The Nation-State Law is only one of many Israeli laws that explicitly discriminate against Palestinians. For example, there's the 1950 Absentees' Property Law. Deeming Palestinian refugees "absentees," Israel seized hundreds of thousands of acres of their land, even though they were only absent because Israel wouldn't let them return. Remember, denying people the right to return to their country is on the list of inhumane acts that legally make up the third element of apartheid. 

There are more Israeli policies that could fall under the category of inhumane acts, especially when it comes to land. So Israel desires the land, even more so desires empty land or land that it makes empty, and doesn't desire the Palestinians living on that land. And that has resulted in policies in which land is constantly moving in one direction. Land that used to be Palestinian becomes state land, and then that land is allocated for the development of towns and communities for Jewish citizens. And yes, expropriation of land is also an inhumane act. 

So let's see what that looks like on the ground. Across the entire territory, Palestinian communities are overcrowded and surrounded by Jewish-only communities. It's the same type of practice of encircling Palestinian communities so that they can't expand, cutting them off from one another. It's a continuous practice that began in 1948 and was expanded to the West Bank in 1967. 

The Israeli state prioritizes Jewish development in places where it wants to restrict the growth of Palestinian communities, with the government keen to Judaize areas like the Galilee and the Negev. Israeli politicians frequently use that term: to "Judaize" an area. In other words, to ensure Israeli Jewish dominance in a particular area where the government has a concern over the Palestinian demography. And in any other context, this would be condemned as, you know, gross ethnic engineering. 

It's in its basic laws, which is essentially the Israeli Constitution. The land is deemed for the Jewish people, not the Israeli people, but the Jewish people. In fact, only 3% of the land inside Israel's 1948 borders is allocated for its Palestinian citizens. Meanwhile, hundreds of new communities have been built for its Jewish citizens, many on the ruins of destroyed Palestinian villages. Plus, there's the 200 illegal Jewish settlements that have been built across the West Bank as well. 

At the same time, thousands of Palestinian homes have been demolished or are under threat of demolition, having been built without permits because Israel rejects most Palestinian building applications. Meanwhile, in the Negev Desert, the Israeli government wants to maximize the land available for Jewish development. 

So it has tried to force Palestinian Bedouin citizens into small townships by demolishing their homes and not allowing them to connect to the water and power grids. One village, Al-Araqib, has been demolished more than 180 times. Now just across the Green Line, a similar struggle is taking place in the village of Susiya, which is in the West Bank, just south of Hebron. 

And it too has faced a series of mass demolitions by authorities in attempt to establish Israeli Jewish control over the area. Looks like we can check off another one of the criteria for apartheid. Israel has total control of this entire territory. Even in Gaza and the West Bank, which have some limited autonomous Palestinian administration in place, Israel controls the borders, trade, resources, water, electricity, the airspace, the electromagnetic spectrum, the population registry and more. Accusing a government of carrying out a crime against humanity like apartheid is no simple matter. But we've seen how Israel's control over and discrimination against Palestinians fits the legal threshold for apartheid. 

Israel's own leaders knew this was happening, although they didn't do much to stop it. Still, how could apartheid apply to Israel when, say, Palestinian citizens can vote? So as a Palestinians citizen of Israel, I cannot question the fundamental Constitution of Israel, which says that the state is for the Jewish people and the Jewish people alone. My citizenship doesn't allow for inclusion in that state. 

And so therefore, participation in Israeli elections or in the Knesset is really nominal and has no potential to change policy. Another argument against the accusation of apartheid is that the occupation is only temporary, and when it ends, Palestinians will rule themselves. Normal people don't think that 54 years is temporary. We've passed that line already a very long time ago. 

And yeah, there's a lot of Israeli propaganda insisting on that worldview of democracy plus temporary occupation. No, it's not a democracy and it's not a temporary occupation. It's one regime between the river and the sea. And that regime is apartheid. 

Indian woman killed in Hamas rocket attack Israel-Palestine conflict escalates

The News Cover: 31-year old Soumya is from Kerala's Idukki district. She was living in the city of Ashkelon in Israel. She had been working there as a caretaker for an 80-year-old woman for the last seven years. On 11th May evening, she was talking to her husband Santosh who is in Kerala, over video call. While they were talking to each other, her neighbourhood came under rocket attack from Palestinian Militants. During the conflict between the Palestinians and Israeli, hundreds of rockets were fired. 

For protection against these attacks, Israeli homes had fortified rooms either inside or outside the house. However, the house where Soumya was working did not have a rocket shelter inside the house. This is why Soumya and the 80 year old woman had to run & were a minute away from a rocket shelter. Sadly they did not make it in time and were hit by the rocket. Soumya passed away but the senior woman has been hospitalised with severe injuries. 

Soumya's husband Santhosh's brother Saji said, "During the call, suddenly there was a loud noise & Santhosh heard his wife screaming. The call then got disconnected.” Santosh was very worried. One of Soumya’s relatives was also working in the area. The relative went to the house where Soumya worked and confirmed her death. The relative then informed her family. A total of 31 persons were killed in the violence. 

Soumy has a 10-year-old son, and has been working as a caregiver in Israel for the past 10 years. She last visited her family in Kerala two years ago. She was planning to return to Kerala two months later but sadly she has passed away. Many Keralites who are living in Israel are now very afraid over the conflict going on between Israelis and Palestinians. Ashkelon's Mayor Tomer Glam said, "The Iron Dome is a device that helps to intercept and destroy enemy rockets. 

The 31 casualties occurred because there was a technical glitch in the Iron Dome. The deaths were because the device was unable to intercept the rockets." Israel's ambassador to India Ron Malka Tweeted saying, "Our hearts are crying for Soumya's son that lost his mother. Israel conveys its heartfelt condolences to the family of Santosh."