It doubtless served as a wakeup call to Israeli groups such as B'Tselem that the conversation about Israel is moving on in the US and becoming much more polarised. Israeli human rights groups need to engage with this debate, not shy away from it.
Battle for equalityThere is one possible lacuna in B'Tselem's position. The report suggests a reticence to focus on outcomes. Nowhere is the two-state solution ruled out. Rather, the report notes: "There are various political paths to a just future." Statements by El-Ad to Middle East Eye indicate that his organisation may still support a framework of international pressure for incremental, piecemeal change in Israeli policies that violate Palestinian human rights.
That is very much what western states, particularly Europe, have been paying lip service to for decades, while Israeli apartheid has entrenched.
Does B'Tselem hope its apartheid criticisms will prove more effective than Barak and Olmert's apartheid warnings, finally galvanising the international community into action to push for a Palestinian state? If so, Biden's performance in office should soon dispel any such illusions.
El-Ad observes that the goal now is "a rejection of supremacy, built on a commitment to justice and our shared humanity."
That cannot happen within the two-state framework, even on the untenable assumption that the international community ever seriously rallies behind Palestinian statehood, against Israel's wishes. So why not say so explicitly? The best-case two-state scenarios on the table are for a tiny, divided, demilitarised, pseudo-Palestinian state with no control over its borders, airspace or electromagnetic frequencies.
That would not offer "justice" to Palestinians or recognise their "shared humanity" with Israeli Jews.
As welcome as the new report is, it is time for B'Tselem - as well as Palestinian solidarity activists who look to the organisation - to explicitly reject any reversion to a "peace process" premised on ending the occupation. The logic of an apartheid analysis needs to be followed to the very end. That requires unequivocally embracing a democratic single state guaranteeing equality and dignity for all.
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