Socialist Standard no-1402 June 2021

Further to the June article on Israeli apartheid

Apartness in Israel

We should note that in 2003, the former Italian prime minister, Massimo D’Alema, said that former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon told him that apartheid South Africa’s ‘Bantustan’ system was the best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some commentators rather than propose the two-state solution are calling for a version of a one-state Greater or Ersatz’ Israel to transform a doomed nationalist movement into a campaign for civil rights.

Already, we witnessed such a development in East Jerusalem, which has already indeed been officially annexed by Israel, where there have been Palestinian protests against a property law applicable only to Jewish Israelis enabling them to reclaim Jewish homes once owned pre-1948, leading to the forcible removal of the present Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah. But, in view of the entrenched Zionist nationalism of many Israelis to protect their religious supremacy, epitomised by the fanatic supporters of FC Beitar Jerusalem, that too, may well be unachievable.