Israeli Politics

The following are the rules for this assignment:

1. The purpose of this assignment is to focus on comparison between different

perspectives of Israeli legitimacy and application of those perspectives to the

case-studies;

2. The papers will be evaluated according to their creativity, organization, and

style. Papers will also be credited for their ability to include citations from the

appropriate readings from the course. You may use Wikipedia for finding facts,

if needed, and you must use the attached course’s material for the analysis of

those facts;

3. The value of this assignment is 10% of the final grade;

4. Type your answer 1.5-spaced, using font Times New Roman, (size 12), wide

margins;

5. All work must be entirely your own, and it will be evaluated according to the

acceptable standards for proper usage of concepts and theories from the

readings;

6. Make sure you write your full NAME on the first page of the assignment;

7. Your write up must include the following components: one short essay. The

length of the assignment should not exceed 3 pages;

8. The assignment must be submitted as a hard copy before the beginning of the

class on Tuesday, 02-April-2019, by 12:15pm (before the class). It can be

submitted directly to me or to my mailbox in Naftali’s 5 th floor. The assignment

cannot be submitted through e-mail.

2

Here is your task:

Israeli Apartheid Week 2015 -2019 when anti-Semitism takes over.

About one year ago, on 15-March-2018, it was Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW),

which is a demonstration that takes place every year, involving the Palestine

Solidarity Forum (PSF) and the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS).

This year there was a change in the setup of the demonstration, which has sparked

dialogue among the societies. Historically, during IAW the PSF and SAUJS have

occupied equal halves of Jammie plaza (with PSF occupying the right, and SAUJS

occupying the left). This year, the structure has changed: PSF is occupying all of

Jammie Plaza, with their demonstration placed in the centre of the space, while

SAUJS is situated at the top of the stairs, right of Memorial Hall. According to Ilam

Manjra, a member of the executive of PSF, the change in positioning of the societies

was a deliberate effort by PSF. PSF wanted to make it clear that the Zionist message

and the pro-Palestine message do not have the same gravity. Manjra further

commented, “The Israel side [SAUJS] cannot, as the spokespeople of the

oppressor, be given equal airtime as the spokespeople of the oppressed [PSF].”

Edward Bernstein, chair of PSF, explained that the insistence on the side of PSF to

occupy all of Plaza was to address the power imbalance between Israel and Palestine,

centralizing the narrative of the oppressed”. In 2018, the Boycott, Divestment and

Sanctions (BDS) movement of Palestinian civil society coalition would be holding its

‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ for the first time in India starting from 21-March-2018.

 Open the attached Gavizon’s (1999) article on page 2. Go to the paragraph

that starts with “There are at least three different sources….” Summarize the

ideas in this paragraph while answering the following question: What are the

three main challenges to Israel’s legitimacy as Jewish and democratic state (1

paragraph).

 Then go to the paragraph on page 2 in this same Gavizon’s (1999) article that

starts with “All these background conditions changed.” How did the 1967 war

reopen the question of Israeli legitimacy (1 paragraph)?

 Now, open the attached article by Bisharat (1994). While, there is no argument

that Israel is legitimate in it’s 1948 borders, many still argue that Israel is not

legitimate in it’s 1967 borders. Go to the pages 471-473 in Bisharat’s article,

to the paragraph on page 471 that starts with “This argument is substantiated

through…” Answer the following question: Why Israel is not legitimate among

its Palestinian subjects (1 paragraph)?

 Open the McTague’s (1985) article. Go to the first and the second paragraphs

on page 102 and answer the following question: Why Israel is frequently

compared to the South Africa’s Apartheid regime (1 paragraph)?

 And finally, how this comparison damages Israel’s legitimacy? To answer this

question use the attached Susser (2010) article, page 1, the paragraph that

starts with “In comparing Israel to white supremacist apartheid South Africa….”

(1 paragraph).

 Write your own opinion on the issue (2-3 paragraphs).

Good luck!