MUST READ-A racism outside of language: Israel's apartheid http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62928

While South Africa's apartheid may represent the closest historical precedent to Israel–Palestine, writes Saree Makdisi, the Israeli state's treatment of Palestinian people in many respects eclipses the suffering imposed by the South African apartheid government on 'non-white' people. Though its supporters worldwide refuse to countenance that any form of systematic racism is perpetrated by Israel, Makdisi stresses, the country's racism is one 'practised in practice rather than in language' and is rooted in treating Palestinians as not merely inferior, but subhuman.

A just peace will not come about by merely pleading with or trying to persuade Israeli Jews to do the right thing and abandon and dismantle the racist system that endows them with privileges while denying fundamental Palestinian rights. All the closest historical precedents to this conflict – above all South Africa – remind us that privileged groups don’t abandon their privileges just because that’s the right thing to do or because they are made to feel bad about enjoying those privileges; they abandon them only when they have no other choice. This case is no different. A just peace fundamentally requires non-violent, outside pressure to be brought to bear on Israel, which is why for so many people of goodwill around the world, and for so many Palestinians themselves, the growing BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement is a source of such hope.