re: #286 Charles Johnson

I think it cheapens the valid arguments against occupation to throw around terms like “apartheid.” The real South African apartheid was brutal and inhuman far beyond anything going on in the West Bank or Gaza.

I agree the situation is very bad for a lot of Palestinians. But it is not apartheid.

I agree. At the same time Netanyahu’s recent statement basically crapping all over a two state solution is deeply troubling. Obama’s statements that any future Palestinian State would necessarily be demilitarized wasn’t good enough, and at the time Bibi blatantly lied about them, focusing on the ‘67 borders comment and ignoring the part about mutually agreed upon swaps. But now he’s come out and openly declared that Israel will never give up control of the lands West of the river Jordan, and if not averted the future implications of such a policy will inevitably lead to an inherently non-democratic situation. This is a momentous shift away from decades of official Israeli policy.