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 constructed over 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 subconsciously 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.
