The feelings of Jewish students on campus is a prime motivator of the workings of the CPCCA; their site explains that the 'problem is especially prevalent on campuses where Jewish students are ridiculed and intimidated for any deemed support for the 'Nazi'; and 'apartheid'; State of Israel, which is claimed to have no right to exist.' [1 c i]
But as Archbishop Desmond Tutu points out, their discomfort in exposure to ideas counter to their own surely pales in comparison to how the beaten, occupied and oppressed Palestinians feel. (More on the Archbishops' thoughts further in the discussion, below.)
Those who argue that Israel is an apartheid state, or that Israel should be one bi-national state with equal rights for all its citizens, seem to be the target of the CPCCA agenda. That would include me.
The word 'apartheid' comes in for special attention with the CPCCA. The suggestion is that its use in and of itself to describe the State of Israel is antisemitic. But as Palestinian civic leader, nonviolent peace activist and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Mustafa Barghouti proffers, you see the separation wall, far longer than even the Berlin Wall; the roads reserved for Jews cutting through Palestinian land and the severe punishment for any Palestinian caught walking or driving on them; the hundreds of armed checkpoints controlling every aspect of daily Palestinian life; the military harassment; the home demolitions; the expulsions; the political prisoners; the barbed wire; the beatings; the arbitrary requirement for the carrying of unattainable military-issued identification papers; the political assassinations - you don't like the word apartheid? Fine. No problem. Give me another word to describe it. (From notes taken attending Dr. Barghouti's speech given at University of Ottawa, Marion Hall, May 7, 2010.)
The repercussions of outlawing criticism of Israel's racist behavior could have untold and far-reaching negative consequences for peace anywhere, far into the future.
It follows that the shield we erect to prevent criticism of one state will be shields which other states will also clamor for.
Ironically, political leaders in Israel have been speaking far more openly about the one-state two-state debate than here in Canada.
Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud):
"I would rather [have] Palestinians as citizens of this country over dividing the land up"; [1 d]
Next - racist, but to the point:
"If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished" - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [2]
Another prime minister, now currently Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak:
"If, and as long as between the Jordan and the sea, there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic... If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a binational state, and if they don't, it is an apartheid state." [3]
Members invited to sit on the CPCCA committee to deliberate on these matters are now no doubt fully aware that the CPCCA meets against a global backdrop wherein the world is beginning to turn its full attention to the reality that Palestinians are oppressed under an odious, cruel and racist apartheid regime. There is little if any difference to this awakening of civil society with regard to Israel today and Apartheid South Africa of before.
For an account of the current state of affairs for Palestinians I recommend the Settler Violence Report from the Alternative Information Center - to wit, settlers are armed and backed by the full force of the fourth largest army in the world. Palestinians on the other hand, are denied the basic human right to self-defense. In sum no Palestinian, no place, anywhere is safe from harm free to live in security and peace. [4]
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