Omar Shakir Speaks at UC Irvine- Day 3

On May 8, law student and activist Omar Shakir spoke at UC Irvine as part of the Muslim Student Union’s Israel Apartheid week. His topic by coincidence was a comparison of South African apartheid to the situation in Israel.

To make his case, Shakir quoted a number of statements by various individuals including South Africans comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa (Desmond Tutu, for example). He talked about the lack of protection under Israeli laws of Palestinians living in the West Bank. He stated that they held no control over their air space as a sovereign nation would and described their inability to travel freely due to the numerous checkpoints.

Shakir, in referring to Gaza, said that The Israelis left and pulled their settlers in order to “optimize their control.”  As for East Jerusalem,  he told the audience that Palestinians there did not hold Israeli citizenship, rather a form of temporary residence. He insisted that the Israel situation is apartheid (his emphasis). He further stated that the Jewish state systematically discriminates against non-Jews.

Other points:

91% of land in Israel cannot be sold to non-Jews.

Racial biases are not written into law but exist de facto.

Some 40 villages in Israel are not recognized therefore don’t receive basic services such as water or sewage.

Palestinians marrying Israelis are not entitled to citizenship, unlike other nationalities.

Jews in other countries can come to live in Israel, but there is no right of return for Palestinians.

Shakir also described the checkpoints located mostly between the Green Line (Israel proper) and Palestinian villages in the West Bank (“occupied territories”.) He also pointed out that the Israeli wall often wanders across the Green line. He also mentioned curfews and home demolitions.

Shakir also went into a history of the formation of South Africa by the Boers making parallels with Israel. Both, he said, considered themselves as people threatened by other peoples (black South Africans and Palestinians respectively).

Shakir also pointed out some minor differences in that Israel, for example, does not engage in petty apartheid practices, such as separate water fountains.

In his closing, Shakir asked what we can all do (non-Israelis/non

Palestinians). The simple answer was to support the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. He did, however, state that the Olive Tree Initiative was ignoring the power dynamics and thought that everything would be alright if we all sang Kumbaya.

Shakir is a good speaker and comes across as reasonable. I don’t have the facts to dispute many of his statements. Of course, it was one-sided and all but ignored the Israeli justification for check-points and walls. There was no mention of Hamas or Hezbollah. He did say, however. That it is not for other peoples to decide on the solution (one state or two). That was for the Israelis and the Palestinians.