The first step in sorting through it all is to distinguish between facts and conclusions. Attaching the label "apartheid" is a conclusion, and not a fact. In South Africa, this label was used to describe a legal system of segregation based on skin color. The facts of apartheid in South Africa were that people with a certain skin color were not able to vote, not able to travel freely, not permitted to hold government office, not even able to obtain medical care at certain hospitals. See http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/pro-palestinian-ads-misrepresent-apartheid/Content?oid=2339168#.UZQvxV6syDk.facebook%23ixzz2TWMnoFoO%23ixzz2TkRksjyP.
So, what are the facts in Israel? Figuring out the answer to this question can be extremely difficult. Although it can't be, and isn't, disputed that Arab citizens of Israel have equal rights, serving in Israel's parliament and on its highest court, proponents of the apartheid label point to disparate treatment of West Bank residents, who are not citizens of Israel. For example, in the most recent round of he-said, she-said, an Australian movie claims to document a new policy of targeting Palestinian children by the IDF. The IDF has responded that the allegations made in this movie are "simply fictitious" http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=50&x_article=2657. We've heard allegations of this type made and disputed over and over in this long saga. Which side should we believe?
I confess that even I sometimes wonder which is really the right side of the story. Of course I would believe the IDF accounts. These are my people. These are my friends and my relatives. I have been taught that they are good and right. But, Arabs and Palestinians of course believe the sources telling the alternative version of events, for the same reasons, and why wouldn't they? Sometimes I wonder if, perhaps, I am the one who has had the wool pulled over my eyes, if I am the one who is blinded by bias. And I wonder, how can I really know for sure?
The answer to that, I think, is to make a credibility determination. And to do that, I have to look at what else is happening in Israel as well as what else is happening in the West Bank and Gaza.
Gaza is ruled by a gang of thugs that commits public executions, without trial, and drags the accused through the streets behind motorcylces. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/20/hamas-executes-informants-israel-gaza. The West Bank is ruled by corrupt leaders that have suspended elections and embezzled donated funds. http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Middle_East/article1326858.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_10_12. How much credibility can such people have?
Israel, on the other hand, is a world leader in medical innovation. Almost every week, it seems, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs touts a new breakthrough in the fights against cancer and HIV. https://www.facebook.com/IsraelMFA. Israel provides humanitarian aid to citizens of its worst enemies, who must come in secret to receive this treatment. (And I'll even link to the New York Times piece to illustrate this point) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/world/middleeast/across-forbidden-border-doctors-in-israel-quietly-tend-to-syrias-wounded.html?_r=0. Israeli technology is helping the blind to see and the paraplegic to walk. http://israel21c.org/health/the-top-12-most-amazing-israeli-medical-advances/, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/israeli-startup-s-seeing-aid-for-the-blind-sees-big-demand.html.
These things tell me that Israeli culture values human life. That is why, when the IDF claims that it takes all steps possible to avoid civilian casualties, and that is has no policy of targeting children, I believe the IDF. That is why, when the Israeli government makes the claim that the purpose of the wall that separates it from the West Bank is to save human life, I believe the Israeli government. That is why, when pro-Israel advocates say that Israel has tried three times to end the so-called occupation, I believe them. The people who are making these claims come from the same culture as the people who are curing cancer and stopping the spread of AIDS. The people who are making these claims value life.
