Apartheid
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Apartheid

Apartheid Apartheid

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208 Through apartheid, Israel has virtually ensured that Palestinians can never develop economically or become an affluent people. Nonetheless, exploitation of the indigenous people in the work process itself is overall probably not as extreme in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as it was in the Graeco-Roman and white South African apartheid societies. Although, as we have seen, slavery exists in the sex industry, and ‘slavery-like’ conditions in other industries, the exploited are almost exclusively nationals of third countries. This is indeed a parallel to South African (and to American) conditions, where slaves mostly came from a third continent. In Graeco-Roman Egypt, I believe, it is too soon to tell. Slaves were of all nationalities, even Greek and Roman, and that leads me to doubt that there was systematic use of slaves from faraway third countries, as in the two modern apartheid societies. One possible reason why the indigenous are not as targeted for exploitation by Israelis as the indigenous people in other apartheid societies is the enormous amount of aid and financial assistance that Israel receives, especially from the USA. Graeco-Roman Egypt and South Africa were more on their own, more isolated economically. They were compelled to raise most of the enormous funds necessary for upholding apartheid by exploiting the available, mainly indigenous workforce (except during the early Dutch reign over the Cape Colony, when the Dutch East India Company provided most of the funding). Moreover, Israel has a far more modern economy than either of its predecessors. The latter were forced to rely heavily on labor-intensive agriculture and other kinds of exploitation of rich natural resources, whereas Israel, lacking wealth of natural resources, feels compelled to rely heavily on international lobbying and propaganda. This is a double-edged sword for the Israeli apartheid society, which is therefore, in comparison, economically fragile and dependent on outside factors for survival. Palestinians are less needed for Israeli comfort and luxury now, but if Israel’s sources of wealth are dried out, it will not be easy to re-enlist Palestinian labor, especially if the Palestinians have their own viable state. For these reasons alone, Israel may well prove to be the most short-lived of the three apartheid societies studied here, and perhaps even more short-lived than the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem. It is apparently dependent on propagandistic conditioning of US decision-makers, and, ultimately, of US voters. Palestinian dependence on aid from outside is another sign of Israeli weakness in this regard. As the partial fulfillment of this dependence postpones Palestinian despair over Israeliinduced injustices as well as desperate reactions to them, it is certainly just that: a postponement. More Palestinian attacks on Israelis are more than likely to follow, although mass starvation, such as in southern Africa due to apartheid during the 1970s and ‘80s, has not taken place within or around modern Israel. This is not thanks to Israel, but to better disaster relief organizations. However, the aid not only keeps Palestinians alive, it also weakens Palestinian society. The millions being pumped into the ‘autonomous’ Palestinian areas to be used to ‘develop’ and ‘democratize’ society, to foster a kind of pluralism, and to make its government more transparent, among other things, are doing much good. But they are also part of the creation of a perverse economy in which power – especially over funding – probably corrupts even more than money does by itself with the traditional types of corruption. The perversity lies in the fact that Israel has disabled the Palestinian economy, and aid from third parties is simply a lid over a pressure boiler, i.e. what I called a ‘short-term illusion’ to the conflict, above. Another negative aspect of the aid-dependent Palestinian economy among others is the encouragement of elitism in Palestinian society, and the consequent blow to solidarity between Palestinians. Different kinds of ‘leadership programs’ have been initiated with western donor money. Palestinians who are already part of Palestinian elites and who know English and other European languages are preferred, sent to ‘peace camps’ abroad, etc. The financial aid has divide-and-rule consequences for Israel, along with other consequences which are of course beneficial to Palestinian society and with more negative consequences for Israeli designs for ethnic cleansing.

209 As elsewhere in the developing countries, new elites are emerging within and around the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and today authoritarianism, corruption, and oppression flourish in NGOs, of course not only in Palestine. They flourish as they came to do elsewhere previously in history, namely, in the trade unions and churches, once these had gained a certain momentum provided by work that was initially mainly fuelled by idealism and genuine charity. Like the churches and the trade unions, once NGOs become popular and start attracting money, they also become corrupt, not completely, but apparently enough to move the political process in a direction desired by the paying, especially the highest-bidding, elites and their allies. Nowadays, some people are getting into human rights because of the money and/or the power they can gain there. One has to understand the roles played by most Palestinians in this process. As opposed to the Israeli Jews, there are only few jobs that really serve their community that Palestinians can ever obtain. The Palestinian income elites, especially, are working on American and European aid projects that in some cases may serve the Israelis at least as much as the Palestinians. Almost all of the foreign aid is used to deal with anything but the root causes of Palestinian poverty: the occupation, the theft of their land, and the ethnicist discrimination. And this is an economic condition that adds to the despair. 465 465 Cf. Abdelrahman: Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt, 2005. See footnote 159 on how foreign aid is earmarked to nurture and create elitism and pro-Western elites in Palestine. See also Bathish, R.: Imported Hypocrisy, 2006; and Karmi: With No Palestinian State in Sight, Aid Becomes an Adjunct to Occupation, 2005. According to Karmi, Palestinians are the largest per capita recipients of foreign aid in the world. While it is sorely needed for the shattered Palestinian economy, this aid also helps finance the Israeli occupation by making it cost-free, and even a source of profits for Israel. From my own experience in occupied Palestine it became apparent to me that every single NGO and IGO representative from abroad has to come in to occupied Palestine through Israel and has to spend (quite a lot of) money and time there first. And then the markets of the occupied Palestinian territories are more or less forcibly flooded with Israeli commodities, including settlement produce. During my time in Palestine 2004-2005 I usually tried to avoid buying Israeli commodities, but still probably ended up with nearly half of my purchased goods being of Israeli origin, some of it even lacking ‘Made in Israel’-markings, which is a sign of it being intended for illegal exports to countries that impose restrictions on imports of Israeli settlement produce. See footnote 725, below, on the so far fruitless and probably half-hearted efforts of the EU to put an end to the illegal imports from Israeli settlements to the EU.

209<br />

As elsewhere in the developing countries, new elites are emerging within and around<br />

the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and today authoritarianism, corruption, and<br />

oppression flourish in NGOs, of course not only in Palestine. They flourish as they came to do<br />

elsewhere previously in history, namely, in the trade unions and churches, once these had<br />

gained a certain momentum provided by work that was initially mainly fuelled by idealism<br />

and genuine charity. Like the churches and the trade unions, once NGOs become popular and<br />

start attracting money, they also become corrupt, not completely, but apparently enough to<br />

move the political process in a direction desired by the paying, especially the highest-bidding,<br />

elites and their allies. Nowadays, some people are getting into human rights because of the<br />

money and/or the power they can gain there.<br />

One has to understand the roles played by most Palestinians in this process. As<br />

opposed to the Israeli Jews, there are only few jobs that really serve their community that<br />

Palestinians can ever obtain. The Palestinian income elites, especially, are working on<br />

American and European aid projects that in some cases may serve the Israelis at least as much<br />

as the Palestinians. Almost all of the foreign aid is used to deal with anything but the root<br />

causes of Palestinian poverty: the occupation, the theft of their land, and the ethnicist<br />

discrimination. And this is an economic condition that adds to the despair. 465<br />

465 Cf. Abdelrahman: Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt, 2005. See footnote 159 on how<br />

foreign aid is earmarked to nurture and create elitism and pro-Western elites in Palestine. See also Bathish, R.:<br />

Imported Hypocrisy, 2006; and Karmi: With No Palestinian State in Sight, Aid Becomes an Adjunct to<br />

Occupation, 2005. According to Karmi, Palestinians are the largest per capita recipients of foreign aid in the<br />

world. While it is sorely needed for the shattered Palestinian economy, this aid also helps finance the Israeli<br />

occupation by making it cost-free, and even a source of profits for Israel. From my own experience in occupied<br />

Palestine it became apparent to me that every single NGO and IGO representative from abroad has to come in to<br />

occupied Palestine through Israel and has to spend (quite a lot of) money and time there first. And then the<br />

markets of the occupied Palestinian territories are more or less forcibly flooded with Israeli commodities,<br />

including settlement produce. During my time in Palestine 2004-2005 I usually tried to avoid buying Israeli<br />

commodities, but still probably ended up with nearly half of my purchased goods being of Israeli origin, some of<br />

it even lacking ‘Made in Israel’-markings, which is a sign of it being intended for illegal exports to countries that<br />

impose restrictions on imports of Israeli settlement produce. See footnote 725, below, on the so far fruitless and<br />

probably half-hearted efforts of the EU to put an end to the illegal imports from Israeli settlements to the EU.

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