Listen to the answer from someone who lives there and their argument. https://youtu.be/Tv5a0k_iNTw?t=2311

Nelson Mandela supported the PLO‘s struggle for self determination, but also supported the right to exist for Israel. Listen to his own words.

I think the situations in Israel proper especially and also the West Bank are very different than in Apartheid South Africa. There are some limited parallels you can draw with conditions in the West Bank. Calling Israel an apartheid state mainly serves as a political slur, obscures the lived reality, hinders understanding, and suggests an easy solution. The PLO/Fatah and Hamas don’t have the same goals as the ANC and also employ very different methods to achieve them.

The ANC wanted equal rights and explicitly wanted the white people to stay in the country and live side by side. The ANC worked hard at convincing the white minority that there would be no reprisals, if they gave up power. They mainly attacked infrastructure.

There’s no significant Palestinian movement similar to the ANC.

Palestinian political leadership has been very different in their goals and methods since the beginning. The Palestinian authority today doesn’t allow Jews into area A. Is that apartheid?

Apartheid South Africa had separate drinking fountains, buses, hospitals, etc. by skin color. Palestinians and Israelis look practically the same and no such restrictions exist inside Israel.

Apartheid is a word that describes the conditions in South Africa. Segregation in the USA was far more similar than the situation in Israel/Palestine.

Insisting on using terms like apartheid, genocide, colonizers, zionazi, etc. only serve to enrage, not to understand. It needlessly makes a big pro peace alliance impossible, to the detriment of Palestinians and Israelis. You can talk about the actual specific things that are happening instead. There’s plenty of those.

I don’t think the term apartheid is appropriate in the way it’s commonly used when referring to Israel. I understand why people use it though.

I support the Palestinian people and their right to self determination, freedom from oppression, etc. The destruction of Israel is not necessary to achieve this. Palestinians deserve better and more effective advocacy as well. Relying on rage fueled slogans and purity spirals are detrimental.