Not peace, but Apartheid: A brief response to the “Trump Plan”
By, Hagai El-Ad, B’Tselem Executive Director
What has changed today? The reality on the ground is already one of full Israeli control over the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and everyone living in it. It is a reality of one, inherently undemocratic, state. And so, the main change today is that Israel and the Trump administration are taking a step further in laying bare their intention to perpetuate this reality. This clarity significantly reduces the gap between the situation as it is, and the euphemistic terms used to describe it.
What hasn’t changed today? Tomorrow, there will still be 14 million people living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, five million of them Palestinian subjects who have no political rights. And all of us here, in one way or another, will remain under the rule of the same government in Jerusalem, a government that works relentlessly to advance the supremacy of one people at the expense of the other, while continually trampling its rights underfoot.
And the future? What the Palestinians are being offered right now is not rights or a state, but a permanent state of Apartheid. No amount of marketing can erase this disgrace or blur the facts. But, the painful facts of today give rise to hope for the future, the only future that can genuinely offer peace. A future not based on supremacy for some and oppression for others, but on full equality, liberty, dignity, and rights for all.
That day will come.
Rabbi Lerner’s Book Talks
Meanwhile, we want to remind you of opportunities to invite your friends to hear Rabbi Michael Lerner speak in various locations beginning tonight, through April. You can find all the information at www.tikkun.org/lj. The details are below as well.
Tonight, Wednesday, January 29th, 7:00pm at Magers and Quinn in Minneapolis (3038 Hennepin Ave)
Thursday, January 30th, 6:00pm at The Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago (5751 S Woodlawn Avenue) (https://www.semcoop.com/event/michael-lerner-revolutionary-love)
Sunday, February 2nd, 12:30pm at Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center and Gallery in Detroit (33 E. Adams St.)
Sunday, February 2nd, 3:30pm at Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Farmington Hills, MI (28611 W 12 Mile Rd)
Monday, February 3rd, 8:00pm, at Books and Books in Coral Gables, FL (265 Aragon Ave)
Thursday, February 13th in Phoenix, AZ
First Lecture: Lessons from 53 Years of Social Justice Activism, 1:00pm to 2:00pm (Temple Solel, 6805 E McDonald Dr, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253 ) (https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/event/lessons-from-53-years-of-social-justice-activism/)
Second Lecture: Revolutionary Love, 7:00pm to 8:30pm (Temple Chai, 4645 E Marilyn Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85032) (https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/event/revolutionary-love/)
Thursday, April 23rd at 6:30pm at Open Center (22 E 30th St, New York)
Please spread the word and let your friends know!!
I was very interested in reading this article. While reading it, I found accusations against Trump’s plan, but no evidence for these accusations. I am not saying that these accusations are false, but only that the article supplies no evidence for them.
The article states <>
Where is the evidence for this?