Is Israel Heading Toward Apartheid?
Akiva Eldar contends that Israel's discrimination against the Palestinians contradicts the intentions of its forefathers.
The Jewish population between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River numbers an estimated 6.01 million out of a total of 12.4 million people living in that area, in addition to some 203,000 foreign workers. — (Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel) data, Dec. 31, 2012)
The non-Jewish population between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River is estimated at 6.11 million, 4.43 million of whom are Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip under Israeli rule. — (CIA data, July 2012)
On Tuesday, April 16th, Israel’s citizens will mark the Jewish state’s 65th Independence Day. Jewish state? Not exactly. The Proclamation of Independence (or as it’s commonly known, “the scroll of independence”), the founding document of the state of Israel, says:
''We appeal — in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months — to the Arab inhabitants of the state of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the building of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.''
