Restrictions on movement in Bab al-Majles in Jerusalem’s Old City place neighborhood in chokehold

28 February 2016

The neighborhood of Bab al-Majles al-Islami, also known as Bab a-Nazer, is located in the very heart of Jerusalem’s Old City. It lies immediately to the east of al-Wad St., the main street which leads from Damascus Gate to the entrance to the Western Wall. Perpendicular to al-Wad St., a street about 100 meters long runs east across the neighborhood, connecting al-Wad St. to the al-Aqsa Mosque. It is a historical area where, until recently, Old City residents led rich community and cultural lives.

Police checkpoint at entrance to the Temple Mount/al-Haram a-Sharif Compound. Photo by Yoav Gross, B’Tselem 23 Feb. 2016

Some 350 people live in Bab al- Majles, and the Islamic Waqf offices are located there. It is a very small neighborhood, with two detached houses and five apartment complexes known as “Hoash”, each of which is built around an inner courtyard. Two of these complexes are populated by about 300 members of the African community whose families came from Chad, Senegal and Sudan some hundred years ago. A separate building houses a nonprofit named Al-Jaliya Al-Afriqia (the African Community), established in 1983 to provide community services to Old City residents. Until recently, the association ran after-school programs for children, as well as programs for young adults and for women. The neighborhood also has seven stores, mostly serving worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque. At the edge of the neighborhood, at the entrance to al-Aqsa, there is a permanent police checkpoint that has been there for years.v

Because the neighborhood is a major route for Muslim worshippers going to al-Aqsa Mosque, life there is impacted by what happens on the Temple Mount (al-Haram al-Qudsi a-Sharif), including access restrictions imposed on Palestinians by Israeli security forces. Over the years, Israel has usually imposed short-term restrictions following violent incidents. However, as of mid-2013, Israel has increasingly restricted the access of Muslim worshippers to the compound – in part due to a sharp rise in activities of the “Temple Mount Faithful” (an extremist Jewish group striving to eradicate Islamic presence on the Temple Mount and build the third Temple) and public action on this issue, which garnered furious responses by Palestinians.

One of the African community’s apartment complexes which was renovated a few years ago. Photo by Yoav Gross, B’Tselem 23 Feb. 2016

The summer of 2014 saw a significant escalation in clashes between Palestinians and security forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. New checkpoints were placed at the entrances to Palestinian neighborhoods, including inside the Old City, and particularly on streets leading to al-Aqsa Mosque. One of these checkpoints was placed at the entrance to Bab al- Majles, on al-Wad Street; ever since, the neighborhood has been locked in between two checkpoints about 100 meters apart – the new one and the permanent one at the entrance to the Mosque.

Once the checkpoints were put in place, Israel began enforcing a new policy forbidding Muslims to enter the compound between 7:30 and 11:00 A.M., a timeslot designated by the authorities for visits by Jews. During this time, the police prevents Muslims – except neighborhood residents – from entering not only the Temple Mount compound, but the entire neighborhood. Security forces randomly prohibit Muslims from entering the neighborhood at other times as well, and even when they allow entry, those wishing to enter are sometimes subjected to strict security checks.

Police checkpoint at the entrance to the neighborhood, in place since summer 2014. Photo by Yoav Gross, B’Tselem 23 Feb. 2016

These restrictions have effectively sealed off the neighborhood and severely harmed its residents, the businesses operating there, and the operations of the African Community association. Residents do not know when they might be able to leave their homes or return to them, which greatly impedes their social lives. The restrictions have greatly reduced the number of Muslim worshippers passing through the neighborhood on their way to the Mosque. Other Old City residents also keep away, not knowing when they might be able to enter the neighborhood or what difficulties they may encounter, and also for fear of being caught in violent altercations. Store owners told B’Tselem’s field researcher that the loss of pedestrian traffic in the neighborhood has caused sharp drops in their sales, forcing some of them to shut down.

The African Community association, too, shut down operations in December 2015, after its volunteers and children participating in the community programs had difficulty reaching their offices. In early February, the association decided to try and resume operations.

The police checkpoints in Bab al- Majles constitute collective punishment of all neighborhood residents. They deny these residents, and Old City residents in general, any possibility of leading a reasonably normal life. However, judging by the conduct of the authorities, the extensive harm to the neighborhood, whose inhabitants are suspected of no wrongdoing, appears not to concern them and they do nothing to improve the community’s situation. Israel must remove the checkpoints and allow residents to resume their normal lives.

Testimonies

Testimony of Manar Suliman ‘Abd al-Jalil Idris, 35, who ran the African Community association until Dec. 2015. Given to field researcher Mus'ab 'Abbas on 14 Dec/ 2015

I worked at the association for about eight years, in various positions, including project coordinator. In the past year I was the director, but in late 2015, I reached the conclusion that it was time to look for another job because the association was dying. Travel restrictions over the past few years, especially since October 2015, have made it gradually collapse. It started about two years ago. The settlers started going into al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Palestinian street resisted. The police put up two checkpoints in Bab al- Majles, about 100 meters apart from each other. The association is located between the two checkpoints. During the week, there are restrictions on passing through the checkpoints. Only neighborhood residents are allowed to cross, and sometimes men over age 50. There’s gender discrimination. Women aren’t allowed through at all because they say they’re all “Murabitat” – a group of women who protest the entry of settlers into al-Aqsa Mosque. On the weekend, there are fewer restrictions.

Ever since the attack on al-Wad Street in October 2015, the situation has gotten worse. Our volunteers can’t come anymore because of the checkpoints and the daily clashes between the police and the “Murabitat”. It’s become scary and parents don’t allow their children, especially girls, to come to us. We understand that it’s a big responsibility because it’s dangerous for kids to come here, so we decided to stop the programs for kids and young adults, for the sake of their safety.

The association provided services to residents of the Old City and East Jerusalem in general. We have three target groups – children, young adults, and women. Four years ago, we opened a children’s club. The kids would come after school, stay until 5:30 and get help with their homework from volunteer students, emotional support from a social worker, leisure activities, a snack, and social interaction. Forty to sixty kids aged 7 to 12 participated in this program every year. The object was to help the families and give the children emotional support and help with school work so they stayed in school and improved their grades. We focused on that because there’s a high drop-out rate in the Old City.

We also had a program called “Me X 4”, for young adults aged 16 to 24. The program focused on the issue of their national identity, with 60-80 participants a year. The program was meant to strengthen the relationship between East Jerusalem youths and Palestinian youths in other parts of the Occupied Territories. It ran for about two and a half years, and included trips to other cities and meeting youths there. The occupation has turned most cities in the West Bank into cantons and there’s a lack of connection between Palestinian youths in different places.

Another project was “’Eish al-Balad”. It ran for about three years, and was meant to enrich the cultural lives of young adults in the Old City. There were parties, personal skills courses, volunteer activities and meetings with Jerusalem figures who could serve as role models. The participants also ran leisure activities for younger kids as part of this program. There were more than 50 participants. One of our most successful projects in the last year and a half was the “neighborhood committees”. A committee was set up in every neighborhood to assess local needs and promote solutions. The committees also worked to strengthen relationships between neighborhoods. We started soccer teams in the neighborhoods. The committees decorated the Old City during Ramadan, and visited neighborhoods that were invaded by settlers to keep in touch with the residents who remain isolated there.

The sewing workshop run by the African Association, now at a standstill. Photo by Yoav Gross, B’Tselem 23 Feb. 2016

There were also women’s programs that provided women with a space to meet outside the home, as well as opportunities to attend classes and workshops. Three years, ago we managed to start a sewing workshop. The women sewed clothing by demand from merchants and sold them, which gave them a source of income. Fifteen women participated in the program.

In December all programs were shut down. Unfortunately, the association is now closed most of the week.

We’re going through a rough time. We don’t know what the future has in store for us under the occupation. Who does closing down the association serve? Does it serve security? When youths have no outlet, nowhere to pass the time in a positive way, where are they going to go? I think this policy increases the frustration and encourages extremism. Life in the Old City has become dark and scary. Only settlers dare to walk around here after dark. This is ethnic cleansing dressed up as security measures.

Testimony of Adam Jibril Adam Balaleh , 45, married father of seven, resident and store owner in Bab al- Majles. Given to field researcher Mus'ab 'Abbas on 19 Dec. 2015

I was born in Bab al- Majles. My wife Manal and I have seven children. The youngest is six and the eldest is 16. I worked in construction most of my life, but four years ago, I started getting back pain. I did some tests and they sent me to physiotherapy, but in the end I had to change my line of work and I started working at a restaurant on Jaffa Street. The change really hurt us financially. I had a lot of professional experience in construction after many years of work, and an excellent income. It allowed me to provide well for my family and send my kids to good schools. I also had a dream to build a bigger home, because our house is 65 square meters large and there’s no sunlight. All my dreams fell apart when I started working at the restaurant for low pay. Things got better when my wife started working. She likes embroidery, so she decided to learn sewing at the African Community association in the neighborhood. She started selling her embroidery work and got a grant from the UNDP to open a clothing store in the neighborhood, where we could sell to people visiting al-Aqsa Mosque. Our financial situation improved, so I quit the restaurant job to work in the store and my wife sewed clothes to sell there. When we saw things were going well, I opened a clothing stall next to the store and our eldest daughter started working there.

Suddenly, two years ago, things began to change. The turning point was Ramadan 2014, after Muhammad Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and burnt to death by Israelis. Since then, things have been really tense. In the Old City and in our neighborhood, there was a real crackdown – checkpoints, restrictions, clashes between worshippers and police, a lot of arrests. After Ramadan of that year, there were a lot of settler invasions of buildings in the area, and daily clashes between the police and the al-Aqsa “Murabitat”.

Jibril Balaleh, 14, by his family’s stall. Photo by Yoav Gross, B’Tselem 23 Feb. 2016

What makes it especially hard for us is the police checkpoint they put up 15 meters away from my store. At the other entrance to the street there’s another checkpoint, about 60 meters away from the store, so we’re basically besieged between the two and it’s very hard for people to enter the neighborhood.

Since the more recent events started, in October 2015, I can say without exaggerating that the only people who come into the neighborhood are the ones who live here. Our whole work was based on al-Aqsa visitors, so the association sewing project shut down. Since then, I can go through an entire day and earn as little as 50 shekels, which is nothing. That’s how we plunged into debt.

In addition to the difficult financial situation, the bad security situation also affects us. I worry for my children a lot. I’m afraid they’ll get into trouble with the police. Because of my debts, I had to transfer the kids to a different school that belongs to the Islamic Waqf. The program isn’t as good, but I couldn’t afford private schooling any more.

Because of the situation, I started opening the store for only a few hours a day. In the end, my sister came in to help us by watching the store, and I went back to full time work at a restaurant. My wife went back to being a housewife, because the sewing machine she used was at the association and it shut down. The future is uncertain, but it’s pretty clear that the checkpoints are here to stay. During the morning there’s an almost complete closure here, until the settlers finish their visit to al-Aqsa, and then the police sometimes open the checkpoint for an hour and a half to let people attend noon prayers. Then they close again for two hours, and then open again. Sometimes they do random searches, and sometimes thorough inspections. If this goes on even for a few more months, all the shops on the street will shut down.

Testimony of Marwan ‘Issam al-Bshiti, 45, married father of two, resident of Bab al- Majles. Given to field researcher Mus'ab 'Abbas on 25 Jan. 2016

Marwan al-Bshiti I’ve lived in this house since I was born. My parents have lived here since 1967, and my wife and I live in the house next door with our children. I’ve worked in community development at the A-Thawri women’s center for more than twenty years. Life in the Old City used to be really good. We had a lot of social connections. We liked living here, in the heart of things, a few meters away from the entrance to al-Aqsa Mosque.

But in the past year and a half, everything started changing and life here has become hard, especially since they put up the checkpoint at the entrance to the Bab al- Majles neighborhood. My house is near the checkpoint that’s at the entrance to al-Aqsa Mosque, and which was recently fitted with more scanning equipment and staffed with more officers. The door of my house is right next to the checkpoint. There are always clashes between residents who want to go to al-Aqsa Mosque and police officers and Border Police officers at this checkpoint. The officers have used gas grenades a few times here, and it puts the lives of my children and my 80-year-old father at risk. We’re living under a kind of house arrest now.

They don’t let people reach their place of worship now, which is a gross violation of their rights. Also, the stores in the neighborhood have gone bankrupt, because they hardly make any money. If this goes on, the store owners won’t be able to keep them running.

Relatives and friends hardly visit us anymore. They used to visit us and pray at the mosque at the same time. People are afraid of coming to the neighborhood. The police often come into our house and our neighbors’ houses and it scares us, especially the children. One of the activities we organized in the past was a weekly meeting between Muslim and Christian elders, sometimes near al-Aqsa Mosque and sometimes in the Christian Quarter. But because of the security situation, these activities stopped. Children in the Old City have no sports fields or playgrounds, so the al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard was where they would get together and play. I, and the rest of the Old City residents, spent our childhood there. Now, the police won’t allow the children to go in the yard and play. The African Community association, which is also in the neighborhood and used to provide services to residents, has also shut down because their volunteers and teachers can’t come. They helped children do their homework and had leisure activities for them: folk dancing (dabka), and sports activities. The association shut down because of the checkpoints and the security forces. What’s going on here has a bad impact on the mental state of kids in the area, especially in the neighborhood. We feel like the future is going to get even more difficult.

Testimony of Mithal Ahmad ‘Attallah Kafr’ani, 58, divorced, resident of Bab al- Majles. Given to field researcher Mus'ab 'Abbas on 18 Dec. 2015:

I’ve lived here since 1967. We have a small house, two rooms and a small yard, and I live here with my son, Saleh, 21, my sister Rihab, 54, who is also divorced, and her daughter Nivin, 31. After our father died, my sister and I opened a store for women’s prayer clothing, because we’re so close to al-Aqsa Mosque. We made a very good living, which allowed us to pay for the children’s education.

When settlers started arriving at al-Aqsa Mosque, our income started to suffer. Our store is at the entrance to Bab al- Majles, and there was a lot of trouble right next to it. Last year, the police put up a checkpoint less than three meters away from our store. It really restricted people’s entry. Most of the time they just don’t let people through.

Rihab Kafr’ani, Mithal’s sister, by their shop. Photo by Yoav Gross, B’Tselem 23 Feb. 2016

They especially prevent women from passing through the checkpont, claiming they are “Murabitat”. We lost our clients. Things have gotten worse since October 2015. Now they restrict residents’ movement every day, except Friday and Saturday. We rely on charity. The chokehold on the neighborhood won’t allow us to work anymore, and we have no livelihood.

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Israel has used this land to build hundreds of communities for Jewish citizens – yet not a single one for Palestinian citizens. The exception is a handful of towns and villages built to concentrate the Bedouin population , which has been stripped of most of its proprietary rights. Most of the land on which Bedouins used to live has been expropriated and registered as state land. Many Bedouin communities have been defined as ‘unrecognized’ and their residents as ‘invaders.’ On land historically occupied by Bedouins, Israel has built Jewish-only communities. The Israeli regime severely restricts construction and development in the little remaining land in Palestinian communities within its sovereign territory. It also refrains from preparing master plans that reflect the population’s needs, and keeps these communities’ areas of jurisdiction virtually unchanged despite population growth. The result is small, crowded enclaves where residents have no choice but to build without permits . Israel has also passed a law allowing communities with admission committees, numbering hundreds throughout the country, to reject Palestinian applicants on grounds of “cultural incompatibility.” This effectively prevents Palestinian citizens from living in communities designated for Jews. Officially, any Israeli citizen can live in any of the country’s cities ; in practice, only 10% of Palestinian citizens do. Even then, they are usually relegated to separate neighborhoods due to lack of educational, religious and other services, the prohibitive cost of purchasing a home in other parts of the city, or discriminatory practices in land and home sales. The regime has used the same organizing principle in the West Bank since 1967 (including East Jerusalem). Hundreds of thousands of dunams, including farmland and pastureland, have been taken from Palestinian subjects on various pretexts and used, among other things, to establish and expand settlements, including residential neighborhoods, farmland and industrial zones. All settlements are closed military zones that Palestinians are forbidden from entering without a permit. So far, Israel has established more than 280 settlements in the West Bank (East Jerusalem included), which are now home to more than 600,000 Jews. More land has been taken to build hundreds of kilometers of bypass roads for settlers. Israel has instituted a separate planning system for Palestinians in the West Bank, chiefly designed to prevent construction and development. Large swathes of land are unavailable for construction, having been declared state land, a firing zone, a nature reserve or a national park. The authorities also refrain from drafting adequate master plans reflecting the present and future needs of Palestinian communities in what little land has been spared. The separate planning system centers on demolishing structures built without permits – here, too, for lack of choice. All this has trapped Palestinians in dozens of densely-populated enclaves, with development outside them – whether for residential or public use, including infrastructure – almost completely banned. C. Restriction of Palestinians’ freedom of movement Israel allows its Jewish and Palestinian citizens and residents to travel freely throughout the area. Exceptions are the prohibition on entering the Gaza Strip, which it defines “hostile territory,” and the (mostly formal) prohibition on entering areas ostensibly under PA responsibility (Area A). In rare cases, Palestinian citizens or residents are permitted to enter Gaza. Israeli citizens can also leave and reenter the country at any time. In contrast, residents of East Jerusalem do not hold Israeli passports and lengthy absence can result in revocation of status. Israel routinely restricts the movement of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and generally forbids them from moving between the units. Palestinians from the West Bank who wish to enter Israel, East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip must apply to the Israeli authorities. In the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded since 2007, the entire population is imprisoned as Israel forbids almost any movement in or out – except in rare cases it defines humanitarian. Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza or Palestinians from other units who wish to enter it must also submit a special application for a permit to the Israeli authorities. The permits are issued sparingly and can only be obtained through a strict, arbitrary mechanism, or permit regime , which lacks transparency and clear rules. Israel treats every permit issued to a Palestinian as an act of grace rather than the fulfillment of a vested right. In the West Bank, Israel controls all the routes between the Palestinian enclaves. This allows the military to set up flying checkpoints, close off access points to villages, block roads and stop passage through checkpoints at will. Furthermore, Israel built the Separation Barrier within the West Bank and designated Palestinian land, including farmland, trapped between the barrier and the Green Line as “the seam zone .” Palestinians in the West Bank are barred from entering this zone, subject to the same permit regime. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories also need Israeli permission to go abroad. As a rule, Israel does not allow them to use Ben Gurion International Airport, which lies inside its sovereign territory. Palestinians from the West Bank must fly through Jordan’s international airport – but can only do so if Israel allows them to cross the border into Jordan. Every year, Israel denies thousands of requests to cross this border, with no explanation. Palestinians from Gaza must go through Egyptian-controlled Rafah Crossing – provided it is open, the Egyptian authorities let them through, and they can undertake the long journey through Egyptian territory. In rare exceptions, Israel allows Gazans to travel through its sovereign territory in an escorted shuttle, in order to reach the West Bank and from there continue to Jordan and on to their destination. D. Denial of Palestinians’ right to political participation Like their Jewish counterparts, Palestinian citizens of Israel can take political action to further their interests, including voting and running for office. They can elect representatives, establish parties or join existing ones. That said, Palestinian elected officials are continually vilified – a sentiment propagated by key political figures – and the right of Palestinian citizens to political participation is under constant attack . The roughly five million Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories cannot participate in the political system that governs their lives and determines their futures. Theoretically, most Palestinians are eligible to vote in the PA elections. Yet as the PA’s powers are limited, even if elections were held regularly (the last were in 2006), the Israeli regime would still rule Palestinians’ lives, as it retains major aspects of governance in the Occupied Territories. This includes control over immigration, the population registry, planning and land policies, water, communication infrastructure, import and export, and military control over land, sea and air space. In East Jerusalem, Palestinians are caught between a rock and a hard place. As permanent residents of Israel, they can vote in municipal elections but not for parliament. On the other hand, Israel makes it difficult for them to participate in PA elections. Political participation encompasses more than voting or running for office. Israel also denies Palestinians political rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of association. These rights enable individuals to critique regimes, protest policies, form associations to advance their ideas and generally work to promote social and political change. A slew of legislation, such as the boycott law and the Nakba law, has limited Israelis’ freedom to criticize policies relating to Palestinians throughout the area. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories face even harsher restrictions : they are not allowed to demonstrate; many associations have been banned; and almost any political statement is considered incitement. These restrictions are assiduously enforced by the military courts, which have imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and are a key mechanism upholding the occupation. In East Jerusalem, Israel works to prevent any social, cultural or political activity associated in any way with the PA. The division of space also hampers a unified Palestinian struggle against Israeli policy. The variation in laws, procedures and rights among the geographical units and the draconian movement restrictions have separated the Palestinians into distinct groups. This fragmentation not only helps Israel promote Jewish supremacy, but also thwarts criticism and resistance. No to apartheid: That is our struggle The Israeli regime, which controls all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, seeks to advance and cement Jewish supremacy throughout the entire area. To that end, it has divided the area into several units, each with a different set of rights for Palestinians – always inferior to the rights of Jews. As part of this policy, Palestinians are denied many rights, including the right to self-determination. This policy is advanced in several ways. Israel demographically engineers the space through laws and orders that allow any Jew in the world or their relatives to obtain Israeli citizenship, but almost completely deny Palestinians this possibility. It has physically engineered the entire area by taking over of millions of dunams of land and establishing Jewish-only communities, while driving Palestinians into small enclaves. Movement is engineered through restrictions on Palestinian subjects, and political engineering excludes millions of Palestinians from participating in the processes that determine their lives and futures while holding them under military occupation. A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime. Israeli apartheid, which promotes the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians, was not born in one day or of a single speech. It is a process that has gradually grown more institutionalized and explicit, with mechanisms introduced over time in law and practice to promote Jewish supremacy. These accumulated measures, their pervasiveness in legislation and political practice, and the public and judicial support they receive – all form the basis for our conclusion that the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met. If this regime has developed over many years, why release this paper in 2021? What has changed? Recent years have seen a rise in the motivation and willingness of Israeli officials and institutions to enshrine Jewish supremacy in law and openly state their intentions. The enactment of Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People and the declared plan to formally annex parts of the West Bank have shattered the façade Israel worked for years to maintain. The Nation State basic law, enacted in 2018, enshrines the Jewish people’s right to self-determination to the exclusion of all others. It establishes that distinguishing Jews in Israel (and throughout the world) from non-Jews is fundamental and legitimate. Based on this distinction, the law permits institutionalized discrimination in favor of Jews in settlement, housing, land development, citizenship, language and culture. It is true that the Israeli regime largely followed these principles before. Yet Jewish supremacy has now been enshrined in basic law, making it a binding constitutional principle – unlike ordinary law or practices by authorities, which can be challenged. This signals to all state institutions that they not only can, but must, promote Jewish supremacy in the entire area under Israeli control. Israel’s plan to formally annex parts of the West Bank also bridges the gap between the official status of the Occupied Territories, which is accompanied by empty rhetoric about negotiation of its future, and the fact that Israel actually annexed most of the West Bank long ago. Israel did not follow through on its declarations of formal annexation after July 2020, and various officials have released contradicting statements regarding the plan since. Regardless of how and when Israel advances formal annexation of one kind or another, its intention to achieve permanent control over the entire area has already been openly declared by the state’s highest officials. The Israeli regime’s rationale, and the measures used to implement it, are reminiscent of the South African regime that sought to preserve the supremacy of white citizens, in part through partitioning the population into classes and sub-classes and ascribing different rights to each. There are, of course, differences between the regimes. For instance, the division in South Africa was based on race and skin color, while in Israel it is based on nationality and ethnicity. Segregation in South Africa was also manifested in public space, in the form of a policed, formal, public separation between people based on skin color – a degree of visibility that Israel usually avoids. Yet in public discourse and in international law, apartheid does not mean an exact copy of the former South African regime. No regime will ever be identical. ‘Apartheid’ has long been an independent term, entrenched in international conventions, referring to a regime’s organizing principle: systematically promoting the dominance of one group over another and working to cement it. The Israeli regime does not have to declare itself an apartheid regime to be defined as such, nor is it relevant that representatives of the state broadly proclaim it a democracy. What defines apartheid is not statements but practice. While South Africa declared itself an apartheid regime in 1948, it is unreasonable to expect other states to follow suit given the historical repercussions. The response of most countries to South Africa’s apartheid is likelier to deter countries from admitting to implementing a similar regime. It is also clear that what was possible in 1948 is no longer possible today, both legally and in terms of public opinion. As painful as it may be to look reality in the eye, it is more painful to live under a boot. The harsh reality described here may deteriorate further if new practices are introduced – with or without accompanying legislation. Nevertheless, people created this regime and people can make it worse – or work to replace it. That hope is the driving force behind this position paper. How can people fight injustice if it is unnamed? Apartheid is the organizing principle, yet recognizing this does not mean giving up. On the contrary: it is a call for change. Fighting for a future based on human rights, liberty and justice is especially crucial now. There are various political paths to a just future here, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, but all of us must first choose to say no to apartheid.

12 January 2021

Apartheid

A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea

The entire area Israel controls between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is governed by a single regime working to advance and perpetuate the supremacy of one group over another. By geographically, demographically and physically engineering space, the regime enables Jews to live in a contiguous area with full rights, including self-determination, while Palestinians live in separate units and enjoy fewer rights. This qualifies as an apartheid regime, although Israel is commonly viewed as a democracy upholding a temporary occupation.

12 January 2021