But we mustn’t call it apartheid

bedouins.jpg

Time once again to juxtapose.

This is apartheid:

South Africa’s Group Areas Act of 1966 consolidated earlier acts aimed at enforcing the policy of racial segregation known as apartheid, and it provided for the reservation of certain areas for residence and occupation by specific racial groups within the population.

But this isn’t, apparently:

The Civil Administration (CA) is planning to expel the Bedouin communities living in Area C in the West Bank, transferring some 27,000 persons from their homes. In the first phase, planned as early as January 2012, some 20 communities, comprising 2,300 persons, will be forcibly transferred to a site near the Abu Dis refuse dump, east of Jerusalem. These communities currently live in the area of the Ma’ale Adummim settlement and nearby settlements; half of them live in 1E, the area designated by Israel for future expansion of Ma’ale Adummim. In the second phase, the CA plans to expel communities from the Jordan Valley. One option being considered is building a new permanent town for these communities next to a-Nabi Musa, west of Jericho. According to the CA’s schedule, the plan will be implemented in three to six years. [emphasis added]

Do take note of the last few words quoted: the expulsions would, no doubt, run parallel with the “peace talks” in which the Palestinians are supposed to participate instead of declaring statehood.