It is “unfair and inaccurate slander” to say that Israel practices apartheid policies, Richard Goldstone wrote in an Oct. 31 op-ed for the New York Times.
The use of apartheid to describe Israel is “calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations,” Goldstone, who led the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza war of 2008-09, wrote.
The Goldstone Report to the United Nations on the Gaza conflict accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity — charges against Israel that Goldstone withdrew in an April 2 op-ed in the Washington Post. The report was never retracted.
Goldstone pointed out that it is important to distinguish between Israel and the West Bank in discussing the apartheid accusation. He said there is no apartheid in Israel proper, pointing out that Israeli Arabs vote, serve as lawmakers and receive equal treatment in the hospital, for example.
Goldstone called the situation in the West Bank “more complex.”
“Of course, the Palestinian people have national aspirations and human rights that all must respect,” he wrote. “But those who conflate the situations in Israel and the West Bank and liken both to the old South Africa do a disservice to all who hope for justice and peace.” — jta