Readers React: Why Israel deserves to be called an apartheid state
To the editor: One reader’s letter defending Israel against charges of being an apartheid state demands a rebuttal.
First, the apartheid claim rests not on the second-class citizenship of Arab residents within Israel proper (as un-fully democratic as this is), but on a half-century of egregiously discriminatory non-citizenship of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Second, Israel has been flagrantly violating international law since 1967 through its colonizing West Bank settlements.
Third, Palestinians have rejected Israel’s long-term peace proposals because they failed to deal equitably with the settlement issue.
Fourth, while Hamas hasn’t helped its cause inside or outside Gaza, Israel has contributed to the missile crisis through its anti-humanitarian blockade.
Finally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist rhetoric and policies may not have caused the two-state solution to be “moribund,” but they may have hammered the final nails into the coffin.
Vincent Brook, Los Angeles
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