Israel – a colonial project and ethnocracy

1. Israel – a colonial project and ethnocracy Israeli Apartheid Week 6. March 2014 Lars Gule Associate Professor

2. Israel’s character • What sort of a state is Israel? • Ethnocracy • The rule of one ethnic group over or at the expense of another • Privileges for one ethnic group • Segregation unavoidable • How did this come about? • It is the history of colonisation

3. Colonialism • Colonialism’s two main forms: • Political colonialism • Controlling a territory – India, Egypt • Demographic colonialism • Settling a territory – Australia, Kenya, Algeria • And Palestine • Colonialism proclaims that another country or people has a greater right to (control) a given territory than the indigenous population of that territory • Colonialism is racism

4. Zionism is colonialism “My readers have a general idea of the history of colonisation in other countries… The native populations, civilised or uncivilised, have always stubbornly resisted the colonists, irrespective of whether they were civilised or savage. And it made no difference whatever whether the colonists behaved decently or not. …Zionist colonisation even the most restricted, must either be terminated or carried out in defiance of the will of the native population. Thus colonisation, can therefore continue and develop only under the protection of a force independent of the local population – an iron wall which the native population cannot break through.” (Jabotinsky, source: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/ironwall.html)

5. Colonialism

6. Zionism is colonialism • Not only Revisionist Zionism • Also Labour Zionism • Jewish labour in Jewish factories, kibbutzim etc. • Jewish products for Jewish businesses • The ethnocratic, i.e. political, segregationist Zionism the dominant form of Zionism • Ethnic cleansing and apartheid unavoidable • 750 000 Palestinians removed • Denial of the right of return

7. Zionism is colonialism – and apartheid • Segregationist laws and practices in Israel from 1948 • Law of Return – for Jews • Land laws • Israel as a Jewish state • The occupation and colonisation of the rest of Palestine – since 1967 – has an outright apartheid and racist character

8. It is enough now! • No state can continue to be colonial and racist in the 21. century • Thus Israel needs to face the consequences of its policies • The Palestinian military struggle has outplayed its role • Negotiations are necessary • But there must be a force behind the Palestinian negotiators • Therefor boycott, divestment and sanctions is an obligation for the international community

9. Thank you for your attention!