Israel's apartheid II

Tribune-Review
Friday, January 19, 2007

That someone of consequence in the world of American politics has finally had the courage to use the "A" word in regard to Israel's treatment of Palestinians is to be commended. Jimmy Carter's, not the tuck-the-tail-and-run resignees from his museum board, is the principled stand.
What does one call more than 300 miles (and growing) of Jewish-only roads in the West Bank?

Or the recently enacted law that forbids Israelis from transporting Palestinians in their vehicles within the West Bank unless they have a permission slip from "the clerks of the occupation"?

What does one call the law that forbids an Israeli Palestinian who marries a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza from residing together in Israel? And then there's the wall that is strategically placed to grab Palestinian land and, more important, water.

As for Israeli Palestinians, books have been written on the government-sanctioned discriminations that they face at all levels within Israeli society. And these examples only skim the surface.

As an American Jew of conscience, I admit that I do have a problem with Carter's new book, but it's not with his use of the word "apartheid."

Archbishop and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu noted that what Israel is doing to the Palestinians is far worse than apartheid. Ethnic cleansing and slow genocide are more appropriate terms.

But I am delighted that Jimmy Carter has spoken out and broken the political taboo of calling Israel to account. And like most truth-tellers, he is suffering for it.

Keren Batiyov
Arlington, Va.