"Apartheid" in the Middle East

Michael Kingsley:

In the six decades since the founding of Israel, there have been about one and a half new ideas for solving the most intractable problem on the map of the world. In fact, ever since Britain's Balfour Declaration (1917) made incompatible promises to Jews and Arabs struggling over the same tiny plot of land, most would-be solutions have counted on an outbreak of goodwill among the Middle East's warring parties. This tradition continues in the Iraq Study Group report, which declared: "There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts" as a small warm-up for tackling the problem of Iraq.

What a good idea! And then we'll cure cancer, to pave the way for health care reform. Why, of course all of humanity should put down its weapons and learn to live together in harmony and siblinghood -- most especially in the Holy Land, birthplace of three great religions (so far). In fact it is downright inexplicable that peace and goodwill have not broken out spontaneously in the Middle East, even though this has never happened anywhere else either.

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Comes now former president Jimmy Carter with a new best-selling book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." It's not clear what he means by using the loaded word "apartheid," since the book makes no attempt to explain it, but the only reasonable interpretation is that Carter is comparing Israel to the former white racist government of South Africa. That is a foolish and unfair comparison, unworthy of the man who won -- and deserved -- the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing Israel and Egypt together in the Camp David Accords, and who has lent such luster to the imaginary office of former president.

I mean, what's the parallel? Apartheid had a philosophical component and a practical one, both quite bizarre. Philosophically, it was committed to the notion of racial superiority. No doubt many Israelis have racist attitudes toward Arabs, but the official philosophy of the government is quite the opposite, and sincere efforts are made to, for example, instill humanitarian and egalitarian attitudes in children. That is not true, of course, in Arab countries, where hatred of Jews is a standard part of the curriculum.

The practical component of apartheid involved the creation of phony nations called "Bantustans." Black South Africans would be stripped of their citizenship and assigned to far-away Bantustans, where often they had never set foot. The goal was a racially pure white South Africa, though the contradiction with the need for black labor was never resolved. Here might be a parallel with Israel, which needs the labor of the Arabs it is trying to keep out.

But in other ways, the implied comparison is backward. To start with, no one has yet thought to accuse Israel of creating a phony country in finally acquiescing to the creation of a Palestinian state. Palestine is no Bantustan. Or if it is, it is the creation of Arabs, not Jews. Furthermore, Israel has always had Arab citizens. They are a bit on display, like black conservatives at a Republican convention. No doubt they suffer discrimination. Nevertheless, they are citizens with the right to vote and so on.

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The Muslim religious bigots who came up with the "apartheid" scam were themselves surprised at how effective their propaganda attack was, since it is both crude and 180 degrees out of phase with reality. It just goes to show how much religious bigotry there is toward Jews in this world that it has been adopted by so many. The reality is that it is the Arab states that are apartheid when it comes to both Christians and Jews. How many Jews are permitted to even visit Medina and Mecca? Zero. How long would Jews survive in Gaza and teh West Bank outside of their protective enclave? Not long. How many Jews are in the legislature of the Palestinian Authority? None. What is the goal of Hamas? Eliminating the Jews in Israel. Why is Jimmy Carter saying such ridiculous things? He resents the facts that Israelis have rejected his "ideas" for "settling" their resistance to Muslim domination.