Is Israel an Apartheid State?

Notes for:
A brief overview of apartheid in "The only democracy in the Middle East"

Source: http://www.interfaithpeaceinitiative.com/apartheid.php

Unequal funding for Arab education
There are separate and inferior school systems for Arabs inside Israel. In 2001, Human Rights Watch reported that one in four of Israel's 1.6 million schoolchildren is educated in a completely separate public school system. The report stated that "Palestinian Arab children attend schools with larger classes and fewer teachers than do those in the Jewish school system, with some children having to travel long distances to reach the nearest school. Arab schools also contrast dramatically with the larger system in their frequent lack of basic learning facilities like libraries, computers, science laboratories, and even recreation space… The educational system has given a low priority to teacher training for the Arab school system… Palestinian Arab teachers on average have lower qualifications and receive lower salaries than non-Palestinian Arab teachers."
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/ISRAEL0901-01.htm
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/ISRAEL0901-10.htm
http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/49/8/1075
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/ISRAEL0901-06.htm
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/ISRAEL0901-06.htm#P1339_191271
Arab history, Israel's borders removed from public school textbooks
Teachers are not allowed to teach students in public schools about the Arab history in the region. Israeli textbooks do not show the "Green Line" or the internationally recognized border between Israel and the occupied territories. They refer to the West Bank as "Judea and Samaria." "Teachers for the Arab schools are approved by the state security service, the Shin Bet, and the curriculum is designed to remove references to Palestinian history and culture…. The Shin Bet prohibits even great Arab and Palestinian literature from inclusion in the curriculum"
http://www.peykarandeesh.org/noFarsi/Condition.html,
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/796896.html,
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21480/format/html/displaystory.html
Unequal funding for Arab towns
Arab towns and villages in Israel do not receive the same funding as Jewish towns, even though taxation rates are equal for Arabs and Jews. Israel has a system of progressive taxation, with wealthier individuals paying more than those with low incomes. Under such a system, poorer communities are supposed to be helped by the higher taxes paid in wealthier ones, but this is not the case when it comes to Arab neighborhoods in Israel According to a report by the US State Department, Government spending was proportionally lower in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas, which adversely affected children in Arab villages and cities."
http://www.jewishcurrents.org/2003-jan-muraskin.htm
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27929.htm
According to Israeli journalist Ori Nir, "Between 1975 and 2000, only 0.3 percent of public construction initiated and subsidized by the Israeli government was for Arabs." In the years 2000 -- 2004,Arab citizens received less than 5% of the overall Regular Budget of Israel. In 2005, less than 3% of the Development Budget was allocated to the Arab communities.
http://www.fmep.org/analysis/articles/israels_arab_minority.html,
http://www.jfjfp.org/factsheets/arabsinisrael.htm
http://www.mossawacenter.org/files/files/File/mossawa%20news%202005.pdf
Right of return for Jews only
Palestinians are denied the right to return to homes and lands that have been taken from them in Israel, while a person with one Jewish grandparent anywhere in the world can settle on land that has been taken from Arabs inside Israel or on Palestinian land in the occupied territories in violation of international law. (The Geneva Conventions prohibit a country from moving its own population into territory it occupies: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." -- Article 49)
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/issues/1099279.stm
http://www.jatonyc.org/UNresolutions.html,
http://www.nakbainhebrew.org/index.php?lang=english,
http://www.jewishcurrents.org/2003-jan-muraskin.htm
Denial of family unification for Arabs
In 2003, the Israeli Knesset enacted legislation that denies any possibility of formal residency status for Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza who are married to Israeli citizens or residents. According to UCLA professor Saree Makdisi, "Israel's newly revised nationality law … prohibits Palestinian citizens of Israel from marrying Palestinians from the occupied territories and living with their spouses in Israel. The same law does not apply to Jewish Israelis who marry Jewish settlers living in the occupied territories. Interestingly, similar legislation had been proposed in South Africa at the peak of Apartheid, only to be rejected by that country's supreme court. Israel's nationality law, however, was endorsed by Israel's High Court just this year." (2006) The law is unconstitutional as it discriminates on the basis of national origin.
http://www.acri.org.il/english-acri/engine/story.asp?id=255.
http://www.monabaker.com/pMachine/more.php?id=A2104_0_1_0_M,
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/racism.html
Unrecognized Arab Villages Denied Basic Services or Destroyed
Many Palestinian villages, some predating the establishment of Israel, are unrecognized by the government, and thus receive no running water, electricity, or access roads. Some do not appear on maps. A number have been destroyed in recent years.
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/382
Approximately 450 Palestinian villages were destroyed after Israel declared its independence in 1948
.http://www.palestineremembered.com/.
215,000 Palestinians in 220 villages have no connection to a sewer system.
http://www.peykarandeesh.org/noFarsi/Condition.html
Limits on Arab growth
Since 1948, scores of new communities have been founded for Jews, but very few for Palestinians, causing Israeli Arabs severe residential overcrowding. According to Israeli Ori Nir, Washington bureau chief for The Forward, "No Arab community has been created since 1948, except for towns created for Bedouins in the Negev, whereas something like 1000 towns have been created for Israeli Jews."

http://www.fmep.org/analysis/articles/israels_arab_minority.html
http://www.peykarandeesh.org/noFarsi/Condition.html
In 2002, the Nature Reserve and National Park Authority presented to the Northern District Planning and Building Committee for a nature preserve and national park which would surround 5 Arab villages in northern Israel and border others. It included the provision that privately owned Arab land could be confiscated for this purpose. Restrictions would be placed on Arab farmers. The goal of this is to prevent further growth in these Arab communities.
http://www.adalah.org/eng/intladvocacy/CESCR-land.pdf
Confiscation of Arab Land for Jewish Use
Land can be and is confiscated from Arab villages and made available for Jewish use. Susahan, a Jewish Israeli living in an Arab village inside Israel bears witness to this phenomenon in her book The Other Side of Israel.
http://www.peykarandeesh.org/noFarsi/Condition.htm l
Plans to "Judaize" the Arab areas of the Galilee
The area of the Galilee in northern Israel is where many Israeli Arabs live. Some are descended from the earliest Christians, while others are Muslim. In September, 2001, the Israeli Government's Northern District Committee for Planning and Building issued a plan to "Judaize" the Galilee region, citing the presence of Arabs in that region as a problem. The plan restricts the development of industrial, commercial and development areas in Arab villages, and places industrial, commercial and tourism facilities in or near Jewish areas.
http://www.adalah.org/eng/intladvocacy/CESCR-land.pdf
Limits on Land leased to Arabs
All land in Israel must be leased. It is not privately owned. Until recently, Israeli Arabs were not permitted to lease land from the Israeli Land Administration, which controls 93% of the arable land in Israel. This land is either state-owned (80%) or owned by the Jewish National Fund (13%). Much of it was expropriated from Arabs. In an effort to head off a legal challenge, the Attorney General announced that ILA should not discriminate; however, a deal was reached under which equally valued government land would be transferred to the Jewish National Fund for each lease of its land to Arabs. This would effectively keep at least the same amount of Israeli land in the hands of the Jewish National Fund.
http://semitism.net/2005/02/09/OLD97
Restricted access to good jobs for Arabs
Service in the Israeli army is a prerequisite for the best private and public sector jobs in Israel. Most non-Jews other than Druze are not allowed to serve in the army so these jobs are not often available to Israeli Arabs. Arabs are thus denied the benefits that come from these jobs and from army service. However, religious Jews who do not serve in the army face no such discrimination and receive all benefits and opportunities accrued to those in army service.

http://www.caabu.org/pdf/Israeli-Arabs-final.pdf,
http://www.jfjfp.org/factsheets/arabsinisrael.htm
According to a report by the US State Department, in 2004, only 3 percent of civil service employees in Israel were from the Arab sector.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61690.htm
Discrimination in public places
Arab citizens of Israel are often discriminated against through denial of access to recreation spaces, swimming pools, water parks and other public places frequented by its Jewish citizens.
http://www.law.nyu.edu/journals/jilp/issues/36/36_4_Cohen-Eliya.pdf
Arab citizens of Israel have less "green space" available, even in mixed race towns inside Israel.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467- 9663.2005.00474.x?cookieSet=1&journalCode=tesg
Discrimination at airports and train stations
Arabs are frequently taken aside at Israel's airports and train stations and searched, often invasively. They are more likely to be detained or accompanied to the plane by security personnel. Most Jews normally travel without any difficulty, while Arab citizens of Israel often face aggressive questioning simply because of their ethnicity. There are exceptions. Israeli or international peace activists may also face delays or invasive searches, but Arabs face these regardless of political affiliation or activity.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/796747.html
http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/dec06/hra-report.pdf.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/827861.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=851098
http://www.peykarandeesh.org/noFarsi/Condition.html
Failure to Protect Arab Citizens During Wartime
Almost all Arab towns and villages in the northern part of Israel lack public bomb shelters, even though they have been constructed with varying degrees of adequacy in most Jewish communities. Similarly, the civil defense authorities failed to ensure that Arab communities had air raid sirens to warn inhabitants of incoming fire, though these are present in Jewish towns. As a result many people in Arab villages died in their streets during the Lebanon war while most Jews waited out the war in shelters, though some of these lacked air conditioning or other amenities.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/14/1358258,
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5703.shtml
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173173947932&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2F
During the war, civil defense officials issued emergency instructions to families about how to protect themselves -- on the radio and television, and in brochures -- only in Hebrew, though Arabic is one of Israel's two official languages.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5703.shtml
Failure to Compensate Jewish and Arab Citizens Equally for War Damages
After the Lebanon war, Arab villages were denied compensation for damages, though many Jewish neighborhoods received funds. Interest-free loans of up to $10,000 were available, but only to Jewish businessmen or those who had served in the Israeli army, which excludes almost the entire Arab population.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/763244.html
Destruction of Unrecognized Arab villages
"The Bedouin citizens residing in the unrecognized villages of the Negev have for many years suffered from severe discrimination and marginalization; during this past year, they were the victims of particularly harsh enforcement policies -- aided by the amendment to the law that was enacted this year (the Public Land Law {Expulsion of Trespassers}) -- including the demolition of houses and the destruction of crops. While the Bedouin are subject to great pressure to leave their place of residence without a viable alternative or adequate compensation, these same state authorities who are applying the pressure are allocating large plots of land to Jews only, and empowering the local Jewish municipal authorities with the authority to "guard the land" from its original occupants." Association for Civil Rights in Israel 2006 Annual Report on Human Rights
http://www.acri.org.il/english-acri/engine/story.asp?id=244
Poisoning, uprooting of Bedouin Israeli citizens' crops
The government of Israel has sent planes to spread poison on Bedouin crops, poisoning livestock and causing health problems among the population. By some accounts, this practice was halted in 2006. More often now these crops are destroyed by Israeli authorities turning them under.
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/where_we_work/palterr_israel/bedouin.htm
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=275276&contrassID=2&subContrassID=15&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=275276
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150332004
http://www.adalah.org/eng/intladvocacy/CESCR-land.pdf
http://www.icahd.org/eng/articles.asp?menu=6&submenu=2&article=336
Israeli Anthem Discriminates
The 20% of Israelis who are Muslim or Christian must extol the Jewish spirit when singing Israel's national anthem. The song begins with the words "In the Jewish heart A Jewish spirit still sings," (Some translations say "As long as deep in the heart, The soul of a Jew yearns" ) It speaks of 2,000 years of the Jewish people yearning to be free in this land. No mention is made of other religions.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/850285.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hatikva.html
http://www.science.co.il/Israel-Anthem.asp
Israeli Flag Discriminates
The flag of Israel displays the religious symbol of Judaism, though one fifth of its citizens are Christian or Muslim. Their religious symbols are not displayed on the flag or on public buildings. The Star of David on Israel's flag symbolically tells Palestinian citizens whose ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years : "You do not belong."
http://imeu.net/news/article004053.shtml
No Constitutional Protection for Minorities
Israel has no constitution to protect the rights of the 24.5% of its citizens who are non-Jewish. It openly declares itself "a state of the Jewish people'" though a quarter of all Israelis are non-Jewish. Many of their families lived here for generations before Israel was established. Many believe there is an inherent contradiction between Israel's claims to be a democratic state and its actions to keep it a Jewish state without defining equal rights for all citizens.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/981336.html
http://www.mossawacenter.org/default.php?lng=3&dp=2&fl=25&pg=9
http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v5i2/html/arabmi.htm
Unequal application of the law to Jews and non-Jews
"A dual system of law discriminates between Jewish Israelis and indigenous Palestinians based on a constructed status of "Jewish nationality." This prejudicial application of law is apparent in all processes of the legal system, from the rights to information and fair trial to detention and prison treatment."
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/jointngo5-PartIII-1.pdf
(Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Government leaders talk openly of expelling Arabs from Israel.
Christians have lived in the land that became Israel for 2000 years, Muslims for more than 1300 years. Now these citizens are referred to as a demographic threat, or "the Arab Problem." The most offensive of these is Avigdor Lieberman, recently appointed to a key cabinet post by Ehud Olmert. When the first Arab minister was appointed to the government recently, Lieberman called on Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign. Another official said "This is assimilation…I call on the prime minister not to approve this appointment to protect the state of Israel's interest as a Jewish and Zionist state." Lieberman said that Israel's Arab minority was a "problem" which required "separation," declaring that Israel must redraw its map to "exchange" part of the Arab population, in order to create a more "homogeneous Jewish state." Almost a third of Israel's Jewish citizens favor transferring Arabs out of Israel, and 60% think they should be encouraged to leave.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/812447.html
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10522.htm