Bishara, Marwan. Palestine/Israel: Peace or Apartheid.

Bishara, Marwan. Palestine/Israel: Peace or Apartheid. London, U.K.: Zed Books, 2002. Hardcover $17.50.

The author compares Israel to Apartheid in South Africa and presents a rigorous argument regarding how the 1993 Oslo process consecrated Apartheid in Israel. He faults the U.S. primarily for not arriving at a just and peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The U.S. is not an honest broker, Bishara contends, because of its bias towards Israel. The Apartheid nature of Israel may be seen in its treatment of the Palestinians who did not leave in 1948 as well as its treatment of the Palestinians in the territories occupied in the 1967 war. Bishara argues that Israel is not ready for decolonization or for transforming itself from an exclusivist state to a fully democratic one, living in peace with its neighbors. The second Intifada broke out because of the impasse in negotiations generated by the biased role of the U.S. and Israeli government policies relating to the Palestinian Authority (PA). But its roots are deeply ingrained in the occupation. Bishara writes in some detail about Oslo, and the policies of successive Israeli governments. In this regard he deals with the successive Israeli Prime Ministers and why they did not offer the Palestinians a genuine peace. In analyzing final status negotiations, Bishara, discusses the 1948 Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem. He also deals with the illegal Israeli settlements as instruments of Apartheid demonstrating how Israel is not really seeking a solution other than one that would guarantee it full domination over Palestine (and the region). Bishara is critical of the second Intifada, which he believes lacks strategy. He proffers that what is needed is a peace movement (both regionally and internationally), not a peace process. What is called for is a non-violent movement that can force the players to more towards a genuine solution. Short of this, Apartheid would become more entrenched. Bishara ends on a "personal note:" "It is perhaps the destiny of the two peoples to live together. If not, then let their divorce be a fair and civilized one" (p. 168). It might be desirable to have such hopes. But so long as Zionist Apartheid exists, it would be difficult for peace to materialize and any divorce (even though there has never been a marriage) would be an ugly affair.