Basim sent me this: "Desmond Tutu just penned an article entitled "Justice requires action to stop subjugation of Palestinians."
See the following paragraphs. The bold is my own:
Black South Africans and others around the world have seen the 2010 Human
Rights Watch report which "describes the two-tier system of laws, rules, and
services that Israel operates for the two populations in areas in the West Bank
under its exclusive control, which provide preferential services, development,
and benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on
Palestinians." This, in my book, is apartheid. It is untenable. And we are in
desperate need of more rabbis joining the brave rabbis of Jewish Voice for Peace
in speaking forthrightly about the corrupting decadeslong Israeli domination
over Palestinians.
These are among the hardest words I have ever written. But
they are vitally important. Not only is Israel harming Palestinians, but it is
harming itself. The 1,200 rabbis may not like what I have to say, but it
is long past time for them to remove the blinders from their eyes and grapple
with the reality that Israel becoming an apartheid state or like South Africa in
its denial of equal rights is not a future danger, as three former Israeli prime
ministers — Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert and David Ben Gurion — have warned,
but a present-day reality.
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Why is calling Israel an apartheid state -- from someone who has lived
under apartheid and can easily recognize it -- the "among hardest words I have
ever written" ? Shouldn't they be the easiest?
Why are three war criminals -- practionerrs of racism and upholders of the
apartheid state themselves -- cited in a positive light?"
