Mustafa Barghouti - a moderate Palestinian medico - was a guest speaker at a recent conference of J Street in Washington. Part of his speech, received in hushed silence it seems, has been reproduced on Mondoweiss. Reading what Barghouti said can one be left in any doubt that what Israel is "undertaking" in the West Bank is anything but apartheid?
"What we are witnessing today is a creation, or a consolidation to be precise, of a system of segregation and Bantustans. The proposals to Palestinians to stick together in what is called an interim solution in less than 37 percent of the West Bank in the form of separate ghettos from each other-- and having that as a solution.
Some people might not like the word apartheid, when we say that we live in a system of apartheid and segregation, and I understand why you wouldn’t like it. Because there is nothing to be proud about having a system of apartheid and segregation in the 21st century. But as Menachem [Klein] said, we actually live in that system. It’s one regime.
What is apartheid? Apartheid is a system where you have two laws, two different laws, for two people living in the same area. If you don’t like the word apartheid, give me an alternative to a situation where a Palestinian citizen is allowed to use no more than 50 cubic meters of water per capital year, while an Israeli illegal settler from the West Bank is allowed to use 2400. How would you classify a situation where the Israeli gdp per capita is about $30,000 while a Palestinian's gdp per capita is less than $1400?
Yet we are obliged to pay the same prices for products as Israelis do. More than that: We are obliged to pay double the price for electricity and water that Israelis do though they make 30 times more than we do.
Segregation of roads is another issue. This is the last place on earth, actually the first place on earth where people have been segregated with roads. I'm talking about roads in the West Bank, major roads are exclusive to Israeli settlers or army or Israeli citizens.
I cannot describe to you to the level of violation of human rights.. we’ve left to see Israeli army using dogs against our nonviolent settlers in the most vicious way. Which reminds us of what happened during the Segregation system here in the United States.
So the problem is very clear. Of course it is either two states or one state. But the reality is, What we are witnessing today with the passage of time is that people will be [left] with one or two alternatives. Either it’s a segregation apartheid system, or one democratic state system,. This is the choice we will all face unless some kind of a miracle happens and I don’t know what that miracle is.
The two state solution will not happen because the balance of power is so skewed in the interest of one side. That’s why were opting today for nonviolent resistance and opting for a strong international solidarity movement, because we want to change the balance of power.
When do we decide that the two state solution is over? What is the time point at which we both decide that it is over and say, two state solution cannot work anymore? I don’t know. Maybe we’ve crossed the line already. Maybe we’re about to cross it.
But the fact that you're having this discussion at this conference this day in DC is an indicator that we have either crossed the line or are about to cross it.
Second, There is no way you can have a Jewish democratic state and keep occupation and oppression of another people. [applause] It’s impossible. We cannot have this operation. Not only because from a moral point of view it is inconsistent with your history and Jewish tradition, but because we as Palestinians, as people, will never accept to remain slaves of occupation. That has to be understood."
"What we are witnessing today is a creation, or a consolidation to be precise, of a system of segregation and Bantustans. The proposals to Palestinians to stick together in what is called an interim solution in less than 37 percent of the West Bank in the form of separate ghettos from each other-- and having that as a solution.
Some people might not like the word apartheid, when we say that we live in a system of apartheid and segregation, and I understand why you wouldn’t like it. Because there is nothing to be proud about having a system of apartheid and segregation in the 21st century. But as Menachem [Klein] said, we actually live in that system. It’s one regime.
What is apartheid? Apartheid is a system where you have two laws, two different laws, for two people living in the same area. If you don’t like the word apartheid, give me an alternative to a situation where a Palestinian citizen is allowed to use no more than 50 cubic meters of water per capital year, while an Israeli illegal settler from the West Bank is allowed to use 2400. How would you classify a situation where the Israeli gdp per capita is about $30,000 while a Palestinian's gdp per capita is less than $1400?
Yet we are obliged to pay the same prices for products as Israelis do. More than that: We are obliged to pay double the price for electricity and water that Israelis do though they make 30 times more than we do.
Segregation of roads is another issue. This is the last place on earth, actually the first place on earth where people have been segregated with roads. I'm talking about roads in the West Bank, major roads are exclusive to Israeli settlers or army or Israeli citizens.
I cannot describe to you to the level of violation of human rights.. we’ve left to see Israeli army using dogs against our nonviolent settlers in the most vicious way. Which reminds us of what happened during the Segregation system here in the United States.
So the problem is very clear. Of course it is either two states or one state. But the reality is, What we are witnessing today with the passage of time is that people will be [left] with one or two alternatives. Either it’s a segregation apartheid system, or one democratic state system,. This is the choice we will all face unless some kind of a miracle happens and I don’t know what that miracle is.
The two state solution will not happen because the balance of power is so skewed in the interest of one side. That’s why were opting today for nonviolent resistance and opting for a strong international solidarity movement, because we want to change the balance of power.
When do we decide that the two state solution is over? What is the time point at which we both decide that it is over and say, two state solution cannot work anymore? I don’t know. Maybe we’ve crossed the line already. Maybe we’re about to cross it.
But the fact that you're having this discussion at this conference this day in DC is an indicator that we have either crossed the line or are about to cross it.
Second, There is no way you can have a Jewish democratic state and keep occupation and oppression of another people. [applause] It’s impossible. We cannot have this operation. Not only because from a moral point of view it is inconsistent with your history and Jewish tradition, but because we as Palestinians, as people, will never accept to remain slaves of occupation. That has to be understood."
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