there are two major definitions of israel. one is “israel proper” -
which the majority of the international community views as fully legitimate and
belonged to israel prior to 1967. in this israel, all citizens have equal
rights under the law (at least in theory). then there is “greater israel.” this
israel includes the palestinian territories which are occupied by the israeli
military (the west bank), which is sprinkled with israeli settlements. in the west
bank portion of greater israel, israeli citizens have all the rights they would
in israel proper and often more, while millions of palestinian noncitizens have
essentially no rights under the law despite the fact that they and their
families have lived there for centuries. they are for the most part restricted
from israeli controlled areas and roads even within the west bank itself, and
their movement is often restricted by the israeli military even within
palestinian controlled areas. thus, while israel proper is relatively generous
with its rights for the part of the world in which it is located, the situation
in greater israel is tantamount to apartheid.
there is a separation barrier (a large cement wall) that has been being
constructed for the last decade or so to separate israelis from palestinians.
the problem is, the wall does not follow the border of israel proper. instead,
it reaches deep into the palestinian territory to encompass various israeli
settlements. a wall along a border is fine, but a wall that expropriates vast
areas of land and intentionally and illegally isolates communities is not. the
route of this wall is regularly being altered to include more land on the
israeli side. palestinians who find themselves in the “seam” between israel
proper and the wall are especially marginalized. despite the fact that there
have been exceedingly few terrorist attacks originating in the west bank since
the end of the second intifada, the new wall continues to be built under the
israeli pretext of “security.”
the palestinian authority only has civil and security control of about
20% of the land in the west bank. the rest of the land is under the control of
the israeli military. even in palestinian controlled areas, the israeli
military regularly makes violent incursions in violation of the terms of the
oslo accords, even when there is no security indication for doing so. children
are regularly imprisoned for minor offenses or even for no known reason. under
marshal law, israel does not need to file a charge to incarcerate palestinians for
any period of time. it is always open season. regular extrajudicial killings of
palestinian civilians by the israeli military almost never go punished or even
appropriately investigated.
there are a few differences between this and other inequalities around
the world. 1. – palestinians are the largest group of people in the world who
are not citizens of any country. israel has complete control over who comes and
goes from palestine, and many who have never done anything wrong are never
allowed to leave, ever in their lives. other country’s populations certainly live
in hardship and without a voice, but at least they are citizens of a recognized
jurisdiction. most people in these other countries are at least in theory
allowed to get passports and travel without requiring permission from some
foreign government which almost almost by definition hates who they are. 2. –
the israeli occupation of palestine is supported financially and protected in
the international arena by the united states. no nation in the world receives
more aid from the u.s. government than israel. i could drabble for days about
how problematic this is, but suffice it to say that it is american’s business
what israel is doing, like literally because we’re officially paying for it. sadly this is arguably mostly a function of a christian zionist strain of evangelicalism.
these are just very few of the myriad issues of inequality in the west
bank, but i don’t believe most westerners or even israelis who are consciously or
unconsciously neozionist (proponents of greater israel) understand the reality
of these policies on the lives of palestinians. after personally spending quite
a bit of time in palestine, it are these issues of restriction of movement and
lack of due process under the law that really resonate with me. thus, i’m
pro-palestine and anti-greater israel until some big changes happen to the
status quo. not because i think one group of people is any better than another,
but because apartheid is stupid.
