Apartheid Israel: JM Coetzee Delivers A Devastating Blow
"Apartheid was a system of enforced segregation based on race or ethnicity put in place by an exclusive self-defined group in order to consolidate a colonial conquest, in particular to cement its hold on the land and its natural resources."
The above definition of apartheid was provided by South African novelist and Nobel-laureate JM Coetzee at the close of this year's Palfest literature festival in Ramallah.
Noting that it was not "productive" to compare Israel's policies with those of apartheid South Africa, because it "diverts one into an inflamed, semantic wrangle", Coetzee proceeded to locate the situation in Jerusalem and the West Bank within his definition of apartheid, and concluded by calling on the audience to "draw your own conclusions".
His poignant observation, remarkable as it is, fells a devastating blow to Israel, for it shatters the colonial regime's false facade of being a "democratic" state.
Shrewd, smart and brilliant is how I describe Coetzee's soft spoken demolition of Israeli Hasbara (a highly resourced propaganda outfit designed to spin its policies).