Israel not apartheid state: Arab scholar

WINNIPEG — Israel is not an apartheid state, according to Mohammed Wattad, an Israeli Arab who is a senior lecturer at Zefat College’s school of law in Safed and editor of the journal Medicine and Law.

Mohammed Wattad [Rhonda Spivak photo]

Wattad spoke at the University of Manitoba during Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) earlier this month, although virtually no IAW organizers or supporters came to hear his lecture.

Wattad said that as “an Israeli citizen… I have no other home than the State of Israel. I am a proud Israeli citizen, but that doesn’t mean I can’t criticize it… At the same time I am a proud Arab national. I like Arab culture, people, etc.… These are not contradictory things.”

He added, “Don’t tell me Israel can’t define itself as Jewish and democratic… This doesn’t mean that Israel is innocent in [Mideast conflict], but there are others here that also aren’t innocent.”

Wattad, a Muslim, was the 2007 recipient of the award for best oralist for legal arguments given by the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science. The articulate Wattad spoke about the difference between discrimination and apartheid.

“Is there discrimination in Israel? Yes, there is discrimination against women, elderly, Arabs, Russian Jews, Christians… But the same goes for Canada. Is it good? No. But it means we have to deal with the problem from within… The existence of discrimination in a state does not mean it is an apartheid state… There is a big difference between apartheid and discrimination,” he said.

“In an apartheid regime, there is no possibility of judicial review, because the judges are appointed by the regime and all serve one ideology. This is not the case in Israel… There is a very strong, independent supreme court in Israel. In an apartheid regime [unlike in Israel], there is no place to go to argue against the government,” Wattad added.

He noted for example that in the case of Israel’s security fence, there were “‘more than 163 judgments of the Supreme Court where they decided that the fence  had to be rerouted or rebuilt.”

Regarding Israel’s national anthem, Wattad, who was a Bretzfelder Constitutional Law Fellow at Columbia University and special fellow of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, believes that the words “nefesh yehudi” (the Jewish soul/spirit) ought to be changed to be inclusive of Arabs, Christians and non-Jewish citizens. He proposes that the words be changed to refer to “an Israeli spirit” rather than a “Jewish spirit.”

Wattad said that the “big problem is the [Palestinian] right of return. Is it a right of return to West Bank and Gaza or a right of return to Jaffa and Haifa? One possible solution is for Palestinians to receive an apology in addition to compensation. After World War II, the Jewish people got an apology from the Germans as well as money [reparations]. It was very important that they got an apology, which was an acknowledgement of collective responsibility.”

When asked whether he thought an economic boycott of Israel would be effective, Wattad answered that it would be “useless” because, he said, “Who of the Arab states will boycott Israel economically?… They will help Israel out.”

Despite the official position of Arab states, they “are doing business with Israel,” he added, giving the Dubai as an example.

“The biggest gas pipeline in Israel is jointly owned by Israel and Iran, and has been that way since it was established… at the time of prime minister Golda Meir.”

He further noted that in the case of war with Iran, “Saudi Arabia will allow Israel to use its air space.”