Separate culture and language is just a part of Apartheid. The most important feature is rule by a particular class/ethnicity/race/ religion of people over other people.
Thank you. So we agree that all apartheid regimes have, as a marker, a separation of peoples (based on race, religion, language, ethnicity, etc) BUT that not all societies which have a separation of peoples are necessarily apartheid, yes? See, how that works?
Now, let's apply the same mode of thinking to the idea of "self-rule". All apartheid regimes will have an element of the domination of one group over another BUT not all societies where there is a minority population without self-rule are apartheid. So, for example, First Nations peoples in Canada, the US and Australia do not have self-rule. Are Canada, the US and Australia apartheid states? The Hindus of Pakistan do not have self-rule, is Pakistan an apartheid state? The Catalans of Spain do not have self-rule, is Spain an apartheid state? Further, Palestine and Gaza DO have a form of self-rule. The lack or presence of self-rule alone is not enough to create the crime of apartheid.
The definition of apartheid has to be precise and meaningful. You broaden it -- you are forced to broaden it -- in order to demonize Israel. But by your definition, nearly any country in the world can be shown to meet it and be considered apartheid regimes.
And, in a delicious irony, you regularly and consistently have a pattern of behaviour on this board which uses racial language and genetic markers to specifically separate out and deny rights to a certain group. You believe people should be sorted by "race" (DNA). You believe "race" (DNA) is relevant to the discussion. (Though, of course, you apply that criteria unevenly and only to one side). It is nothing more than a high-tech alternative to dividing people by skin color and assigning rights based on that skin color. THAT, my friend, is apartheid.
The delicious irony is that you have changed a few words, but it is the Hasbara answer which tries to claim that Israel is doing what other countries do with minorities. Of course, this is untrue, because Australia, Canada, the U.S., who did employ settler colonialism, do not call themselves "European" or "Christian" states. Nor do they assign different citizen status to minorities, i.e. an ID card with racial, ethnic or religious affiliation is issued to minorities.
Furhermore, it is important to understand that, today, there is a de-facto single state, one regime, maintained by the Israeli authorities, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Since 1967, successive Israeli governments have steadily incorporated the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, into the fabric of the state, through settlements, a road network, and so on. Within this single regime, incorporating pre-1967 Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jews and Palestinians are afforded or denied rights based on ethnicity, ID card, and geography.
Within Israel, inequality is institutionalized; even the U.S. State Department acknowledges that Palestinian citizens of Israel, approximately 20 percent of the population inside the pre-1967 lines, face “institutional and societal discrimination.” The legal rights centre Adalah, has identified more than 50 laws that discriminate against non-Jewish citizens, affecting areas of life such as land ownership, housing rights, family life, citizenship, education, and more. Indeed, contrary to a widely-held perception, there is not even a legal guarantee of equality; in January 2016, the Knesset voted against a draft bill calling for the inclusion of an equality clause in a key Basic Law.
So while Palestinian citizens of Israel can vote in parliamentary elections, and become Members of Knesset or Supreme Court justices, none of that changes the documented discrimination outlined above. Moreover, their representation in the corridors of power and judiciary is extremely limited; since 1948 there have only even been two non-Jewish ministers, out of more than 600, while there has only ever been non-Jewish judge on the Supreme Court (from 66 justices past and present).
Of course, Israel’s policies of systematic discrimination, state-sponsored racism, and brutal repression of dissent, is even harsher in the occupied Palestinian territory; from the colonization of land in the West Bank, to the inequality and displacement faced by the Palestinian ‘residents’ who are neither full citizens nor under military rule in East Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are subjected to the collective punishment of blockade, fenced-in, and subjected to periodic, brutal massacres.
You can continue with your Hasbara canned responses, but even Israel's strongest supporters understand that Israel is an Apartheid state. They couch their accusation in terms of "if there is not a two-state solution" using the charade that the occupied territories are independent states, but that Bantustan defense was debunked long ago.
