The moral imperative of confronting and dismantling
Apartheid-like policies in Israel-Palestine

Boston Sabeel Conference
Old South Church, October 27, 2007

PANEL

IMPERATIVE FOUNDATIONS

We have a faith imperative to struggle against any form of racism.  It is not only a moral imperative.  It is equally a theological and spiritual imperative.  In our own context of life, we need to confront and do everything we can to dismantle the Israeli-form of apartheid.  What are some of the basic tenets of this faith imperative?   

• We are all equally created by God and in the image of God. Any racism is an insult to God the loving creator.
• We are all human beings.  Any time we classify people on the scale of more human and less human it is a violation of the equal human rights to which we are all entitled.     
• Any time, our sacred books imply that discrimination or racist attitudes are attributed to God, such texts must be condemned and rejected.  They reflect human writing and prejudice and cannot be attributed to God.  We do not believe in a racist God.  We do not believe in a God who favors one people over another.  Such a theology might reflect one stage in the development of a primitive human theology of God.  For us Christians, it cannot reflect a theology of God whom we have come to know in Jesus Christ.  The God we believe in is a God who loves all people unconditionally.   Our worst forms of racism are due to a bad theology of God, to a narrow interpretation of our sacred texts.  We need an inclusive theology of God that can help us interpret our holy books in an inclusive way.  We need to reject the violence of god tradition and the racism of god tradition in the Bible.
• Any form of racism is evil and we have a God-given mandate to struggle against evil in our world today.

These four foundational moral and theological tenets must help us to champion the rights and dignity of all people and furnish us with the imperative to work against all forms of racism and discrimination. 

UNDERSTANDING APARTHEID

Apartheid is one of the worst forms of racism.  Apartheid is an Afrikaans word that literally means “separateness”.  It refers to the policy of racial segregation as practiced officially in South Africa for over 40 years in the 20th century.  For a number of years now, this word has been used by Jewish peace activists, Palestinians, and many others throughout the world to refer to the policies and practices of the government of Israel against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. 

In his book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, President Jimmy Carter described the current situation in Palestine as: “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.” 

It is important to note that President Carter did not stumble haphazardly on this word.   As a result of his regular visits to our area, he witnessed an apartheid-like racism being carried out in the Occupied Territories by the Israeli army which reflected a policy on the part of the government of Israel.  Apartheid has become a paradigm by which we measure the depth and breadth of racism that people are subjected to. 

In order to fully understand the depth of this form of racism, one needs to study the history of the Zionist movement.  From its inception at the end of the 19th century and the writings of Theodor Herzl, the Zionists entertained racist attitudes against the Arabs of Palestine.   It is clear in the Zionist documents that the Zionists intended to take over Palestine and its surrounding areas and get rid of the indigenous population.  Dispossession was part and parcel of the original vision of Zionism.   In 1948, the first stage was implemented.  It was named the Dalet plan by the Zionists.  In his book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, the Israeli historian Illan Pappe described this well:  

Once the decision was taken, it took six months to complete the mission. When it was over, more than half of Palestine’s native population, close to 800,000 people, had been uprooted, 531 villages had been destroyed, and eleven urban neighbourhoods emptied of their inhabitants. The plan decided upon on 10 March 1948, and above all its systematic implementation in the following months, was a clear-cut case of an ethnic cleansing operation, regarded under international law today as a crime against humanity. 

What we are witnessing today is another stage of the nishool, the dispossession of the Palestinians.  Tragically, such forms of racism are increasing not only in Israel and the occupied territories but in other parts of the world and showing their ugly heads in the forms of racism against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims.   

It is important to point out here when we say that we are against any form of racism, we include our opposition to anti-semitism.  Anti-semitism is a form of racism against Jews and, like other forms of racism, is an evil which we absolutely condemn and resist.

Sadly, however, the greatest disservice that is being done against the state of Israel and Jews is now being carried out by some pro-Israel Jewish extremist groups in this country who abuse and exploit anti-semitism.  They use it today as a weapon to silence anyone who does not agree with them.  Even the honest criticism that people have a right to express against the wrong policies of the government of Israel is being silenced.  In fact, there is more honest debate inside the Israeli society and more criticism against the government policies than here in democratic America.  These pro-Israel Jewish extremist groups are doing more harm to the State of Israel than they realize. There is a new definition of anti-semitism.  Originally it was used against a person who hates Jews.  Today, it is used against people whom these extremist American Jews hate.  So President Carter is called anti-semitic because some of these extremist Jews don’t like him, and the same applies to Bishop Tutu and many others. It is a privilege to find myself in the company of Carter and Tutu.   

These pro-Israel extremists do not really love Israel.  They are doing more damage than they realize to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel.  They are in alliance with Christian Zionists who, according to their Armageddon theology, wait for the destruction of two thirds of the Jewish people and the conversion to Christianity of the remaining third.  Many of us are struggling against that heretical theology and working for peace and security for all the people of the land – Israelis and Palestinians.

CERTAIN COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE TWO FORMS OF APARTHEID

Before we can address our strategy in confronting the Israeli-form of apartheid, we must explore what we can learn from the parallel histories of the two apartheid systems.

• Both settler movements – Afrikaners and Zionists – developed national myths and ideologies that rationalized the conquest of the land.  The Afrikaners claimed that they arrived in a land devoid of people and that it was only decades later the Bantu peoples arrived.  Zionism’s myth was that they came to “a land without a people for a people without a land.”
• Afrikaners’ Calvinist theology identified the South African natives as sub-humans. And in the wars they fought against the natives, the Afrikaners Covenant stated that God gave them victory and a “promised” land.  Israeli settlers invoked the Hebrew Bible for justifying the confiscation of Palestinian land and today Christian Zionists support those biblical claims.
• Both the ANC and the PLO called for the creation of one state.  In South Africa, the people succeeded in keeping the country unified.  In Israel, due to US support, the Palestinians cannot even get a viable 2-state solution, let alone a one state.  Israel is making the 2-state solution impossible because of its settlement building.
• Apartheid South Africa advocated separation and homeland for the Blacks.  Israel started to build an apartheid wall, making separation a “fact on the ground.”  Worse than that taking more Palestinian land, dividing Palestinian neighborhoods and disrupting their everyday life, and making it illegal for Israelis to go to Palestinian areas. 
• Apartheid South Africa was overwhelmingly exposed by the international community and apartheid was perceived as a crime.  By contrast, Israel has been staunchly embraced and protected by the US in spite of its injustice and oppression of the Palestinians.
• Despite over 60 violations of the UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, Israel was not subjected to international sanctions as was South Africa.
• While the analogy with apartheid South Africa is becoming increasingly common with Israeli academics and journalists, AIPAC and related organizations are still successful in making this analogy controversial in the United States.
• While the mainline churches and organizations in the United States and across the world supported disinvestments, boycotts and sanctions against apartheid South Africa, those same mainline churches and organizations are very reluctant to exercise similar pressures on the government of Israel and even on companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation, such as Caterpillar.

WHAT IS OUR STRATEGY AND HOW CAN WE PUT AN END TO ISRAELI APARTHEID? 

We must realize that because the US has embraced Israel and has become its supporter, defender, champion, and advocate, it has not been easy to be effective in combating Israeli government racism.  We must not give up.  We must together find ways to address this evil.  The following are some suggestions: 

• It is important to do everything in our power to expose the ugliness of this racism.  We must show its ugly face.  This must be done through more writing and testimonies.  It can be done through increased visits to the Palestinian areas so that people can witness it first hand and become engaged in bearing witness and in advocacy against it. 
• It is important to build a strong and broad grassroots base among people everywhere and especially in western countries.  Since pro-Israel groups have been effective in exerting control on people of power and the media, we need to awaken the conscience of the masses to such an extent that the people of power and the media cannot ignore them anymore. 
• We thank God for books like the Iraq Study Group Report by James Baker and Lee Hamilton that called attention to the centrality of the Israel/Palestine conflict and the need to resolve it on the basis of international law; President Jimmy Carter’s book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid; most recently, The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Steven Walt and the Israeli historian Illan Pappe’s book: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. More books, reports and studies need to be created to educate and raise the consciousness of people.
• Non-violent methods must be employed to put pressure on Israel to give up its racist policies and end its occupation.  The cry for Morally Responsible Investments, boycotts, sanctions and other nonviolent methods must increase.  But in order for this to be as effective as it was against apartheid in South Africa, this must come from a broad base of people in this country.
• I would like to specially address the churches and their clergy in this country, that through sermons, education, eyewitness visits, and written material, they can raise the consciousness of their people on the importance of a just peace.  Clergy have a great responsibility to educate their people.
• More than anything else, we must always have a commitment to speaking the truth and confronting any falsehoods. We must continue to condemn violence and racism perpetrated by the Israeli government and some Palestinian extremists groups. Above all, we must continue to commit ourselves to a just peace and reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis.

To this objective and strategy, we commit ourselves.  I hope and pray that you all join me in this commitment and endeavor.

Naim Ateek
Sabeel, Jerusalem