Iniquitous Apartheid Charges

In righteous indignation worthy of the United Church of Canada, South Africa has enacted a new requirement for goods produced in West Bank settlements be clearly marked to distinguish them from products originating from Israel proper.  Such goods must be marked "Israeli-occupied territory", for the purpose of informing consumers in South Africa that they are supporting an 'apartheid', occupying regime should they wish to purchase such goods.

The ruling African National Congress has always backed the Palestinian cause, identifying with it, as an oppressor/oppressed situation, analogous to what they experienced under white rule in South Africa.  The modest trade that Israel does with South Africa does not in and of itself warrant concern at this turn of events.  But its possible spin-off effect does, should a larger audience of other countries take a similar tack on grounds sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

Pretoria's decision does not go down very well with its own sizeable South African Jewish community.  A community whose many members actively supported the AFN over the minority white-rule government that was in existence prior to 1994. 

"It is the firm belief of the Jewish communal leadership that the proposed measures are discriminatory, divisive, inconsistent with South African trade policy and seriously flawed from both an administrative and procedural point of view.  At bottom, they are believed to be motivated not by technical trade concerns but by political bias against the State of Israel.  All attempts to discuss these concerns, however, have come to nothing."  South African Jewish Board of Deputies, the Zionist Federation and South Africa's chief rabbi

The South African government proposed the new trade measure on an earlier occasion.  Now, the cabinet in Pretoria proceeded to approve the new trade measure of effectively "requiring the labelling of goods or products emanating from IOT (Israeli-occupied territory) to prevent consumers being led to believe that such goods come from Israel".


It is interesting that South Africa holds Israel to standards that it holds to be internationally required in support of a cause not fully in accord with their own historical experience.  But if their own historical experience is taken into account, the ANC has itself been a failure in accommodating the full needs of its black population, too many of whom continue to live in the same hopeless squalor they suffered under the white-dominated regime.


In South Africa, striking miners hoping for an increase in their poverty-level pay are treated inhumanely, to the point where 34 of the strikers were fired upon with live ammunition and killed by South African police.  In South Africa, violent crime is rampant, and women and children are exposed to continual violence and rape.  President Zuma has declared a day of national mourning for the miners in a country that has one of the world's highest murder and rape rates.


"This ongoing violence is a part of our national and collective shame and we should take this time to seriously reflect on the state of our society", thundered Professor Yunus Ballim of Witwatersrand University.  The country should take shame in mine workers earning a minimum wage of $1,560, where the poorest 10% of the population shares $137.5-million, while the richest 10% has $48-billion in wealth.


The Palestinians have had more than ample opportunity to claim sovereignty and responsibility by agreeing to a peaceful resolution of relations between it and the State of Israel.  The Palestinian Authority economy is largely dependent on international aid, rather than ordering itself into a society capable of sustaining itself through innovation, production and growth.


By choosing to remain adversarial to the presence of the Jewish State, and preferring to mount violent attacks against its presence, the Palestinians have guaranteed 'occupation' status by a country forced to defend itself from constant attack; if the energy expended in attacking Israel politically and militantly were put instead into nation-building much could be achieved, including full employment for Palestinians.


Instead, Palestinians find good, solid employment in the construction industry, helping settlers build the foundations of their new homes in biblical-era zones of traditional Jewish occupation.  And, as the mayor of a city just outside Jerusalem beyond the Green Line commented in a letter to South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabene, Palestinians earning their living in Israeli factories would be harmed by Pretoria's new policy.