It's been three years since Jimmy Carter was demonized as anti-Semitic for writing that if Israel maintained the occupation without giving Palestinians full rights, it would become an apartheid state.
And now Israel's hawkish Defense Minister -- and most highly decorated soldier -- agrees.
Speaking at a conference outside Tel Aviv, Barak said, if "millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."
Currently, Israel's democracy applies only within the pre-'67 lines. The millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories have no democratic rights. Barak is saying that Israel must either get out of the territories or be another apartheid South Africa.
Exactly what President Carter said.
Except when Israel's Defense Minister says it, he is also saying that Israel cannot defend itself unless it ends the occupation.
That is why supporters of a secure Israel must oppose the occupation. Thanks, Minister Barak. But then it is easier to speak the truth about the occupation in Israel than here in Washington. You don't have the lobby to deal with.
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The Palestinains are not the ones getting their olive trees chopped down, fields burned, houses raided at night, houses confiscated, rights taken away, and living under an apartheid system. The Palestinains aren't occupying anyones land, Israel is.
So you can vote for Hamas if you like, but hey cant actually do anything positive without Israeli permission. Except fight back against the occupation. Oh but that makes them "terrorists".
Seems to me there are 3 possibilities for Israel/Palestine:
1) Create a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel.
2) Institute real democracy, allowing the Palestinians to vote for seats in the Knesset. In about 25 years, the Palestinian population will grow to the point that it will be larger than the population of Jewish Israelis, so if solution 2 is adopted, Israel will cease to be a "Jewish state" per se.
3) Apartheid. In the Apartheid model, the whites in South Africa deprived the blacks of South African citizenship, and instead made them citizens of nominally self-governing homelands with no real power. This is closest, in my opinion, to what exists today...
I favor option 1.
Barak said IF West Bank Palestinians become Israeli citizens and IF they're prohibited from voting THEN n and ONLY then will Israel be considered an apartheid state.
This is three hypothetical statements in one sentence.
To derive the from that statement that " Barak called Endless Occupation Apartheid" is irresponsbile and in keeping with blatant anti-Israel propaganda peddled by some.
It looks like apartheid, smells like apartheid, talks like apartheid,walks like apartheid - it is apartheid.
And all the old anti israel claims are banal in the extreme.
Completely false.
Imagine. Jimmy Carter, the one US president brave enough to weather the lobby and force Israel and that terrorist Begin to the negotiating table - delivering the first Israeli-Arab peace deal - has been carefully and systematically undermined since he left the oval office. Not for striking a peace treaty for Israel, but for daring to force Israel into doing something it didn't want to do then.
Thank you Mr. Rosenberg for bringing these pieces to our attention. Btw, Barak also said a week or so ago that not having peace was more dangerous than any Iranian nuke. Didn't see that on the HuffPo though.
Take a look at the UK coverage of israel's oppression of the Palestinians. Try reading the reports in the Guardian and the Independent. Only the US soft-pedals on the criminal treatment of the Palestinians. In this regard, the "liberal" New York Times is shamefully pro-israel and in recent months has virtually stopped reporting on what is actually happening.
as a critical pin-hole view into the world of NY finance manipulating our congress, administration, tax dollars and economy to their personal benefit read the 4/26/09 NY Times article "Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club" By JO BECKER and GRETCHEN MORGENSON and the accompanying graphic "Mr. Geithner’s World."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all
as for hollywood the following article could only be written by Joel Stein.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein19-2008dec19,0,4676183.column
this is one of the comments posted to Joel's article:
Yes,the most powerfull weapon on earth is to control all communications and the money.Yes,we control hollywood,newspapers,news media,book publishers,education have the strongest lobbies that control all goy politians who might step out of line. You might as well face it there will be no andy or opie.We decide the culture not you. As sharon once said don't worry about the u.s we control the u.s. and the americans know it. I'm tired of hiding our power.We are your masters. Who is the federal reserve? its us morons,and we loan all countries money with interest with only the cost of ink and paper.No use in fighting us that time is long gone!
Submitted by: Paul Cohen
6:04 PM PST, December 19, 2008
He also said in the book that the *current* occupation, "a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land, but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights."
This is not what Barak said.
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=18&x_article=1623