Apartheid

220
Such cruel measures are of course crimes. They are serious violations of international
law and a host of humanitarian and human rights treaties, most of which are signed by Israel,
as well. But, as usual, such niceties have no impact whatsoever on Israeli apartheid
officialdom or on Israeli civil apartheid society elites. Israelis and Jewish settlers are of course
not affected by the bans on drilling wells.
In practice this means that Israeli settlers, living in illegal settlements
on the West Bank, get their swimming pools topped up and their
lawns watered while Palestinians living in villages next to them – on
whose land the settlements have usually been built – can go without
enough water for drinking and cooking. 491
This kind of problem is not only to be found in the Occupied Territories, but across all
the land Israel occupies. As in South Africa under white rule, the discrimination of access to
amenities according to ethnicity is not restricted to times of unrest or war, either. ‘Electricity,
sewerage, and roads are provided free to Israeli households, whereas many Palestinian
communities in Israel, and especially in the Occupied Territories, have existed for decades
without adequate services.’ 492
A few days prior to the renewed outbreak of widespread violence in September 2000,
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and acting Interior Minister Haim Ramon gave the goahead
to the construction of a new road through six Palestinian neighborhoods. Plans for the
road entailed three tunnels and one bridge, spanning 15.5 km. According to Jerusalem’s
Orient House, the construction of the road was intended to cordon off east Jerusalem from the
West Bank and to connect illegal Israeli settlements. 493 We see here how the apartheid
categories of ‘Access’ and ‘Land’ can merge to become one and the same oppressive action
serving multiple purposes.
[C]ontrol is what has enabled Israel to double the number of settlers in
10 years, to enlarge the settlements, to continue its discriminatory
policy of cutting back water quotas for three million Palestinians, to
prevent Palestinian development in most of the area of the West Bank,
and to seal an entire nation into restricted areas, imprisoned in a
network of bypass roads meant for Jews only. During these days of
strict internal restriction of movement in the West Bank, one can see
how carefully each road was planned: So that 200,000 Jews have
freedom of movement, about three million Palestinians are locked into
their Bantustans until they submit to Israeli demands. 494
Recreational facilities, such as beaches and parks, are also typically segregated in an
apartheid society like Israel, precisely the way it was in South Africa. The phenomenon,
‘beach apartheid’, is one example of many that is being used to compare and link Israeli
oppression with its South African counterpart. This is not just a crazy law or rule,
transgressors will be punished. 495
In east Jerusalem, illegally occupied by Israel since 1967, unilaterally and illegally
annexed to Israel since 1980, Palestinians are treated as unwelcome visitors by the occupier,
trying to ‘gently’ force them out to make way for Jews only. The western part of the city’s
population are treated to First World amenities by the state, the eastern citizens are treated as
491
McCallin: Israel Bans New West Bank Wells, 2002
492
Abuhamdeh & Balak: 5 Reasons to Stop US Military Aid to Israel, 2002
493
N.N.: Israel Confiscates More Palestinian Land for New Bypass Road, September 19, 2000
494
Hass: Israel Has Failed the Test, 2000
495
Goldenberg: Palestinians Feel the Heat as Police Enforce Beach Apartheid: With Peace Looming, Israel is
Keen to Establish Areas for Jews Only, 2000