Misblog

Originally Published February 23, 2007; Updated and Republished May 26, 2008:

An oppressor is always the last to admit their oppression - Israel is no exception.

Israel and its surrogates have spent the last several months castigating anyone comparing their oppression of the Palestinians to the old apartheid system of South Africa.

Former President Jimmy Carter, because of his book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid and his prominence, has had to endured most of the indignant criticism and protests from the "righteous oppressor(s)".

Now, the United Nation's Human Rights Council Report of the Special Rapporteur, John Dugard, on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967¹. Paragraph 61 concludes that Israel's practices probably constitute the Crime of Apartheid:

Paragraph 61. "Israel’s practices and policies in the OPT are frequently likened to those of apartheid South Africa (see, for example, Jimmy Carter, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid (2006)). On the face of it, occupation and apartheid are two very different regimes. Occupation is not intended to be a long-term oppressive regime but an interim measure that maintains law and order in a territory following an armed conflict and pending a peace settlement. Apartheid is a system of institutionalized racial discrimination that the white minority in South Africa employed to maintain power over the black majority. It was characterized by the denial of political rights to blacks, the fragmentation of the country into white areas and black areas (called Bantustans) and by the imposition on blacks of restrictive measures designed to achieve white superiority, racial separation and white security. Freedom of movement was restricted by the “pass system” which sought to restrict the entry of blacks into the cities. Apartheid was enforced by a brutal security apparatus in which torture played a significant role. Although the two regimes are different, Israel’s laws and practices in the OPT certainly resemble aspects of apartheid, as shown in paragraphs 49-50 above, and probably fall within the scope of the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid."

How long must the world's ears hear the "righteous indignation” and protests of the oppressors before it says, enough?

Links to Misblog's:

• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-7
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-6
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-5
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-4
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-3
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-2
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update-1
• The Zionist Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare Update

Blogosphere: Occupied Gaza like apartheid South Africa, says UN report (Rory McCarthy)

Web:

• UPDATED 05/26/2008 BBC, Ex-US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has at least 150 atomic weapons in its arsenal.

  "One of the greatest human rights crimes on earth is the starvation and imprisonment of 1.6m Palestinians,"--Former President and Nobel Laureate, Jimmy Carter--

  Ever notice that those that have been treated like shit treat others like shit? Wonder why this is so? Wonder if and how it can be fixed²? So that those that have been treated like shit do not treat others like shit.

• A UN human rights envoy has compared Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to elements of apartheid.
• UN commissioned report: Israel occupation resembles apartheid

-----notes-----

1. For the entire United Nation's Human Rights Council Report advanced report go here.

2. Those suggesting religion as the fix face the very heavy burden of explaining its continuous and consistent failure to date—those explaining religion's failure as human failure face an insurmountable burden?