Peace not apartheid

Recently former President Jimmy Carter attracted a lot of criticism in the west, particularly the US, for language in his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid which linked the behavior of Israel to the white supremacist state of South Africa. Although he said that he was merely trying to provoke discussion and not make a comparison, the message was clear. Now the debate about the nature of a Jewish state in Palestine has surfaced again within Israel. A law allocating sales of government land to Jews only has begun the legislative process with what appears overwhelming support by politicians. (For more details, click here.) Many Israeli opinion leaders are questioning whether this type of legislation foretells a racist Jewish state in Palestine. (For a Haaretz editorial on this, click here) You will note from the comments on these two articles, this behavior seems to have a lot of support within the Israeli public. As the prospect of a single state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict gains more credibility this debate will continue to grow. Award winning author Ghadi Karmi's new book Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in Palestine will increase the discussion.