Apartheid outside Africa: The Case of Israel

Abstract

The term "apartheid" evokes South Africa, but systematic racial discrimination is not unique to that nation. Charges have emerged from many quarters. Some aboriginal peoples claim they are victims. Religious-based states may violate the rights of racial groups that do not adhere to the religion. Racial groups not reflected in the power base are found in Africa and the Middle East, where colonial-drawn boundaries threw racial groups together in a single state. As Eastern Europe changes its political face, racial animosities are surfacing that may yield systematic oppression of minorities. The apartheid claim has been leveled in Israel, whose treatment of its minority population of Arabs has been the subject of controversy. The United Nations General Assembly called Zionism, the national ideology of Israel, "a form of racism and racial discrimination," a charge prompted primarily by Israel's treatment of the Arabs within its borders.' British historian Arnold Toynbee called Israel "a racialist state.. ." and said that "it is wrong that people feel differently about the rights and wrongs of the existence of the state of Israel versus white South Africa .... "2 Others have challenged this charge. Thomas Franck wrote that "[t]he South African problem has almost nothing in common" with that of Israel.' The term "racism" in the General Assembly resolution,