with the terrible history Jews have, why is Israel behaving like this?

[ssd]

I would have thought they would be showing more compassion for a repressed minority but the opposite is happening

and Netanyahu saying they told the Palestinians to leave because they were going to be fired on...where the bloody hell would they go to?? IF THEY COULD GO AT ALL

Apartheid states cannot exist, the world will not allow it.

Lebanon could said to be an apartheid state. Palestinian refugees and their descendants there are still not allowed to work in certain professions, such as medicine - see this graphic - and I believe many are still living in refugee camps administered by the UN.

This DOES NOT give Israel a get-out-of-jail free card to deny Palestinians human rights in the West Bank or to indiscriminately kill huge numbers of innocent civilians in Gaza. But moving forward towards peace will require other Arab states to do their bit for Palestinians in their countries as well.

Israel IS an apartheid state.
They are bullies in land that doesn't belong to them.
May I suggest MNers boycott Israeli goods?

Dismantling 2% of the settlements from Palestinian territories is not as big a 'concession' as Israeli regime would have you believe.

Israeli control of Gazan coastline, airspace and borders is not exactly called relinquishing control is it. In fact, the whole thing was engineered so that it would halt the peace process and the likelihood of a two state solution

Israel apologists are actually supporters of apartheid and complicit in the genocide - committing the holocaust in the name of peace.

FLB - you can suggest what you like, however gormless. Good luck in boycotting Israeli technology and drugs, but be sure to let us know how you get on.

Which land doesn't belong to Israel. Israel itself? That's an unusual comment, as land isn't usually thought to belong to particular races. It's quite close to what the BNP say when they suggest blacks should go home because they don't "belong" here. If you mean the West Bank, then that wouldn't make Israel an apartheid state, simply an occupying power.

"Which land doesn't belong to Israel. Israel itself? That's an unusual comment, as land isn't usually thought to belong to particular races"

Israel is not a race, it is a state. Surely you know that?

Every state under Sharia law is an apartheid state as women are not allowed to walk out the door without supervision, let alone get a job or have any say or influence.

Its one of those situations where you to solve it, you just wouldn't start from this point. The fault lies with the setting up of that state after the war. I don't see any resolution and I see a scary future for the state of Israel. The middle east is becoming more radicalised and armed and Israel has some but ultimately not enough defences.

The state is almost 70 years old and I don't see it lasting another 70 years. The act of grabbing land from Palestinian people was not a long term solution and neither is how Israel treat these people

PigletJohn - I'm confused! I was not omitting the occupied territories. I was directly referring to the occupied territories. Unless your post was addressing someone else's?

FunLovingBuster - the Arab minority (20%) in Israel has full citizenship with voting rights and representation in government. It is illegal in Israel for employers to discriminate based on race. Israeli Arabs have their own political parties and representation in the parliament. Arabs are also members of the major Israeli political parties. Arabs serve in senior diplomatic and government positions in Israel and an Arab currently serves as a justice on the Supreme Court.

Do I really need to outline how different this is to what the blacks suffered under the apartheid system? This is an insult to them. My relatives had to flea South Africa after campaigning apartheid. They would not recognise the comparison. Using language such as apartheid is not only wildly inaccurate but spreads racial hatred ... see the irony?

The situation is different for the Palestinians living in the west bank occupied by Israel. Here there are many restrictions for Palestinians, including many security checkpoints. These are not racially motivated, but necessitated due to security, as the Palestinian-governed areas being against Israel's very existence. Palestinian militants frequently try (and sometimes 'succeed') in committing atrocities across the border in Israel and the restrictions are part of being, in effect, in a war zone. As tensions rise, restrictions tighten, and then restrictions ease again when things quieten down. Palestinians from the occupied territories are allowed to work in Israel and receive similar pay and benefits to Jewish workers. They attend schools and universities in Israel.

Ironically, the Palestinian Authority does not grant the same freedoms of speech, religion, assembly etc to its residents. Palestinians in the occupied territories can enjoy better rights under Israeli government than their own.

I wouldn't suggest a boycott of Palestinian goods based on their abuse of such basic rights however. That would be hateful and counter-productive.

- sorry that should say "campaigning against* apartheid"!

Deflect deflect deflect. Blame anti semitism, blame racism, blame the children for playing on the beach, Blake palestinians fir breeding, blame Hamas for wanting the siege to end.

Don't blame israel or the idf for murder or apartheid. Can't you see how good they are to the palestinians? So good that they are breeding! They have a high birth rate. They have food (calorie controlled you understand), and we even provided them with hospitals (which we are now pulverising), and a university! To think we are being accused of a genocide!! The world has gone mad.

housewife thank you for your contribution to this thread - housewife

Oh, the irony of housewife telling others to get a job.

Large chunks of both the Jewish and the Muslim religions are oppressive to women and in many areas become part of the law - where this exists we have inequality which nobody should tolerate. It happens to be that most of these areas become ruled by force and eventually when the boys get bored of beating each other up, end up in war with another country.

Nigeria is becoming like this. Islam and local religions co-existed quite happily for centuries but more and more extremism has destroyed that harmony and resulted in the mess we have today.

What happened in Israel is that the Israelis had the power to fight back and resist where other countries have just gone under. This is an islamic and antisemitic war - it's because the PLO were supported by the arabs, fighting a dirty war involving human shields and suicide bombs that the Israelis had to fight back.

It's naive to think this has nothing to do with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The media blindly supporting the underdog for decades hasn't helped here either. The underdog in this case fights dirty and can be more damaging and dangerous than any well equipped army.

Yes Israel has been ethnically cleansing its land of Palestinians but they have had to do it because of their dirty tactics of using civilians to fight their war. The moment this happens the rules of engagement are turned upside down because nobody knows who to engage with. They don't know who the enemy is any more and have lost patience trying to find out.

Yruapita you are speaking in riddles, please explain what on earth you mean.

Sargeantmajor, you really do believe what Israeli regime tells you, dont you. I cannot believe how brain washed a lot of Israelis are. They have their government to thank for that. What is shocking is that a country that likes to align itself with the West, actually restricts freedom of thinking in its own people through a campaign of brainwashing that starts at birth.

A small section of the Israeli people have not been brain-washed and thankfully they are trying to wake their people up from this hypnosis.

Israeli apologists just have deflection tactics. Apartheid supporters that they are.
genocide

Yruapita - I am not Israeli. I am not brainwashed. My post was factual. Please advise which fact you dispute.

Yruapita I don't think you understand that not everyone on Mumsnet is particularly taking sides. This is not a war zone, we are well outside and have the education, equality and liberty to be able to think outside the box you seem to think everyone is put into at birth.

housewife "Yes Israel has been ethnically cleansing its land of Palestinians but they have had to do it"

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

And
Whose land did you say?

sergeantmajor " If Palestine wants peace, and land, it can take up the offer"

Good grief!

You are seriously asserting now that Israel is prepared to give back the occupied territories and remove the illegal settlements (colonies)?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Sergeant, there are over 50 Israeli laws that DISCRIMINATE against Israeli Arabs. This is how the blacks did suffer under apartheid too.
employment discrimination

Another link about Enlightened israel.

www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-glorious-state-of-israel-and-its-anti-arab-discrimination.premium-1.515462

Even in courts, arabs face discrimination

www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israeli-courts-must-end-anti-arab-discrimination-1.376666

In fact i am sure there is a database of these laws somewhere on the web. Will find and link.

oh, here is that link.

adalah.org/eng/Israeli-Discriminatory-Law-Database

sergeant. What is the Israeli offer for peace again?

Interesting, a Jewish person from anywhere on the planet who may have no connection with Israel (for around 1500 yrs anyway and then maybe never in the area that Israel now encompasses within it's borders) has automatic to residency and can buy property straight away. This surpassing people who were removed from their property which was 'appropriated'. They can't ever get that back, I guess.

Can Jewish people who live in the U.S. buy property in Israel or do they have to permanently live there?

pangurban all jewish people have a 'right to return', Palestinians are denied this. Apartheid state?

What is the definition of Jewish for legal purposes? Is it ethnicity rather than religious adherence? How would you demonstrate it? What if you had one Jewish grandfather? This must be laid out in legal terms.

If you find my posts or posting style objectionable then follow the Talk Guidelines and report me, PigletJohn.