"If it looks like Apartheid..."

Check out this brilliant article by Yossi Sarid, printed in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.

Responding to the shocked and defiant reactions of most Israelis when accused of running an Apartheid state--with regards to the military occupation of the West Bank and to the blockade of Gaza--Yossi argues that Israelis shouldn't be disgusted by a word, they should be disgusted by the reality.

"What do we have to do with apartheid? Does a separation fence constitute separation? Do separate roads for Jewish settlers and Palestinians really separate? Are Palestinian enclaves between Jewish settlements Bantustans?"

"The white Afrikaners, too, had reasons for their segregation policy; they, too, felt threatened - a great evil was at their door, and they were frightened, out to defend themselves. Unfortunately, however, all good reasons for apartheid are bad reasons; apartheid always has a reason, and it never has a justification. And what acts like apartheid, is run like apartheid and harasses like apartheid, is not a duck - it is apartheid. Nor does it even solve the problem of fear: Today, everyone knows that all apartheid will inevitably reach its sorry end."

Check it out for the full article: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/977947.html