Apartheid Israel: The Jewish National Fund



Copyright: Uri Davis

April 2006

Introduction

The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a conflict between the State of Israel as a settler colonial state in Palestine and the indigenous people of the country of Palestine, the Arab-Palestinian people. The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like the core of the conflict in typical confrontation between a colonial settler state and an indigenous peoples, lies in the claim of the colonial settler state to legally set aside the land and the subsoil for the use of the settler society and to dispossess the native population of their right to national self determination, including their individual and collective property rights to the land and to whatever underlies the land.

The land laws of the State of Israel are apartheid laws, because they enforce preference on the basis of tribal affiliation (religious, and/or ethnic and/or national), allocating in law privileged access to the land (including housing) and the subsoil (notably water) to persons defined in law as a "Jews", correlatively discriminate against those defined in law as "non-Jews", in the first instance, against the Arab-Palestinian people. In other words, these are racist laws in the sense defined in the international conventions that Israel has signed and ratified, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965, as well as Covenants which Israel has refused to join, such as the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of 1973.

With the apartheid divide in Israel being legally defined as "Jews" versus "non-Jews", 93% of the entire territory of the State of Israel within the borders of 4 June 1967 are defined as "national lands" and are legally designated for "Jews only". The legal system by the apartheid powers of which this blatant discrimination is maintained in the territories under Israeli sovereignty has resulted in a land tenure system worse than that of the former apartheid Republic of South Africa, where the apartheid divide was legally defined as "White" versus "non-White" (At the height of the apartheid regime in South Africa 87% of the territory of the Republic were legally designated in law for the use of "Whites" only).

Central to the Israeli legal apartheid system is the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Law of 1953, the Covenant between the Government of Israel and the JNF of 1961, and JNF afforestation activities regulated thereby. The JNF has been centrally instrumental in veiling the ruins of many, if not most, of the Palestinian Arab localities ethnically cleansed by the Israeli army in the course of and in the wake of the 1948 war by planting forests and developing recreational facilities over their lands and their remains, notably the British Park.

The British Park was planted and developed over the lands and the ruins of the Palestinian Arab villages of Zakariyya and Ajjur, whose inhabitants and their descendants (like the inhabitants and descendants of the some 400 Palestinian urban and rural localities similarly ethnically cleansed in the territories that came under the control of the Israeli army (inside the "Green Line") currently totaling some 4-5 million 1948 Palestine refugees) have since been criminally denied by virtue of Israeli legislation, notably Absentees property Law of 1950, their right to return and to the repossession of the titles to their properties inside the State of Israel.

It may also very well be the case that the JNF British Park has been planted, inter alia, to veil the large depo of Israeli illegal nuclear arsenal in the Zakariyya area.

One can hardly sufficiently emphasize the significance of such JNF afforestation and recreational activities in enabling the projection of the falsehood and the misrepresentation of the State of Israel as "the only democracy in the Middle East". Palestine solidarity could do worse than anchor its mobilization for divestment in and boycott of Israeli industrial and other products; embargo on academic, cultural and sport institutions (including research grants and international conferences); and imposition of international sanctions enforced by the UN in the demand to revoke the charitable registration of the JNF; cancel its tax exempt status; and nullify its NGO observer standing in the UN.

The purpose of this article is to introduce into Palestine solidarity narrative such consistent, considered and precise working definitions of some of the central terms relevant the mobilization for institutional boycott and divestment in Israel, notably, "apartheid", "Jewish National Fund" (JNF), and "Israel Lands Administration" (ILA), as well as spell out the critical legal relationship between the JNF and the ILA underpinning Israeli apartheid.

It cannot be sufficiently emphasized that unless Palestine solidarity narrative is consistent, considered and precise, the narrative allows the opposite parties, namely, apologists for political Zionism and Israeli was crimes, a toe-hold in their attempts to discredit Palestine solidarity advocates with the allegation of "unjustly singling out Israel" and hence of "anti-Jewish racism" ("anti-Semitism").

What is Apartheid

The term "apartheid" is not synonymous with the terms "racism" and "xenophobia." The terms "racism" and "xenophobia" are not synonymous with the term "apartheid."

Racism is defined by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965 as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life". (Article 1) There is a certain degree of accuracy in the argument put forth by the Israeli Foreign Ministry (which is located in Jerusalem on land belonging to Palestinian refugees who were expelled from the city in the widespread ethnic cleansing perpetrated in Palestine in course of and in the wake of the 1948 war) and other representatives of the State of Israel around the world and by that Israel should not be singled out from among other member states of the United Nations as a state uniquely afflicted by racism Ð not because Israel is not afflicted by racism, but because it is not greatly different from other member states of the UN, such as Indonesia, the U.S.A. or the United Kingdom.

However, the State of Israel is not merely afflicted by racism. In so far as the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, i.e., access to land and to subsoil (minerals, and above all, water), it is anchored in a regime of apartheid. Apartheid is a political regime that imposes upon the population which is under its control racist preferences and choices by power of Acts of Parliament, and enforces the said racist preferences and choices upon the population which is under its control by means of the law enforcement instruments of the state, such as the judicial system, the security forces (police, army, secret services), the planning authorities, the municipal authorities, etc.

Whereas racism in the modern sense of the term is a rampant social affliction at one level or another in all of the member states of the UN (some more and some less) Ð a regime of apartheid as defined hereinabove is less common, and to the best of my knowledge, with the dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa, a process that began with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and was completed with his election as President of the Republic in 1994 in the first democratic elections ever to be held in the history of South Africa, the State of Israel remains the only member state of the UN that is an apartheid state.

I shall immediately state, that it is possible, that my knowledge is insufficient (it may very well be); that there may be additional member states of the UN which are apartheid states as defined hereinabove Ð but in any event, they would be few and far between . An apartheid regime constitutes a blatant violation of the UN's founding charter, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and of the standards of international law. Therefore, it is the duty of the international community to single out apartheid states, separately and collectively, including the State of Israel, for the same specific attention that was paid to the apartheid regime of the Republic of South Africa, i.e., a boycott of industrial and other products; of academic, cultural and sport institutions (including research grants and international conferences); and international sanctions enforced by the UN Ð in order to assist them in the same way as the international community assisted South Africa replace the apartheid regime with a democratic constitution.

In this regard it is important to note, that in the first democratic elections in the Republic of South Africa in 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected as President of the Republic by majority of votes not only among the "non-White" tribes and ethnic groups that comprise the social mosaic of the territory that comes under the authority of the Republic, but among the "White" tribes and ethnic groups as well Ð and this was after decades of political imprisonment and extensive and coordinated efforts on the part of the apartheid regime to remove him from sight and to defame him as a "terrorist."

93% of the entire territory of the State of Israel within the borders of 4 June, 1967, are defined as "national lands" and are legally designated for "Jews only", more specifically, for those persons who are defined under the laws of the State of Israel as "Jews". Only some 7% or less of the entire territory of the State of Israel within the borders of 4 June, 1967 are privately owned, approximately half of which are estimated to be privately owned by Arabs and half privately owned by Jews. The legal system by the apartheid powers of which this blatant discrimination is maintained in the territories under Israeli sovereignty has resulted in a land tenure system worse than that of the Republic of South Africa at the height of the apartheid regime, where 87% of the territory of the Republic were legally designated in law for the use of "Whites" only.

The strategic settler colonial apartheid legislation in the State of Israel is anchored, inter alia, on the following series of laws:

In order to properly understand how the apartheid laws operate in the State of Israel, one must begin by examining the cornerstones of the aforementioned legislation, and first and foremost by examining what is the Israel Lands Administration; what is the status of the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund; and what are the link that obtains between them.

What is the Jewish National Fund

The Jewish National Fund was established by power of a resolution at the 5th Zionist Congress (Basel, 1901); registered in Britain under English law as a company under the name Jewish National Fund Ltd. (limited liability without capital distributed to shareholders) in 1907: and in Israel, by power of the Jewish National Fund Law, 1953.

Though the English company and the Israeli company are juridically two different legal persons, they were registered under near identical names. Whereas the English company was registered as "Jewish National Fund Ltd", the Israeli company was registered as "Jewish National Fund", dropping the "Ltd.".

The articles of incorporation of the Israeli company were approved and signed in 1954 by the Justice Minister at the time, Pinhas Rosen. In other words, from 1954 the JNF has operated by means of two companies with practically identical names, one registered in Britain and the second in Israel. The primary objects of the company that was registered in Israel are rather similar to those of the company registered in Britain. They read as follows:

Prior to the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 the JNF operated as a basically voluntary organization and in the first 40 years of its activity in Palestine its achievements in the area of land purchase were modest in terms of quantity: approximately 7% of the entire lands of Mandatory Palestine.

Not so with regards to quality. The JNF has operated as the main instrument in the field of land purchase in Mandatory Palestine (and in other parts of the Ottoman Empire) on behalf of the World Zionist Organization. JNF purchases were strategic: the partition borders for the "Jewish" state, the "Arab" state and the City of Jerusalem as corpus separatum that were set forth in UN General Assembly Resolution No. 181 (ii) in November 1947; the geographical distribution of the Zionist settlement in Palestine up to 1948; and the "Judaization" of the Palestinian lands which fell under Israeli sovereignty in the wake of war of 1948-49 and the 1967 war - were largely informed, beginning the turn of the 20th century to this day, by the values of the JNF and its land purchasing policies (for cultivation, development and settlement of "Jews only").

Up to 1967 the JNF's main activity took place within the borders of the State of Israel. Since the 1967 war and the occupation of the entire territory of Mandatory Palestine (and additional territories) by Israel, the JNF has operated very intensively in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights directly and through subsidiaries, notably the Hemnutah company, which is registered in Israel (Jerusalem) and in the West Bank (Ramallah). Whereas the order of the lands under Israeli control in the West Bank is basically known (approximately 70%) Ð it is impossible to obtain information as to what proportion of those lands are owned directly by the JNF and/or through its Hemnutah subsidiary.

The World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency (Status) Law of 1952, joined with the Jewish National Fund Law of 1953; Basic Law: Israel Lands of 1960; the Covenant between the Government of Israel and the JNF of 1961 Ð alongside the intermediacy of the Israel Lands Administration (controlled by the government) and the Land Development Administration (controlled by the JNF) Ð grant the Jewish Agency and the JNF Ð organizations which by their mandate are designed to act on behalf of "Jews only" Ð a claim to the exclusive franchise of developing all State lands. Yet, as pointed out by the late Mr. Zerah Wahrhaftig, then Minister of Religious Affairs and Chairman of the Israeli Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, when presenting the Basic Law: Israel Lands, on behalf of the government before the Knesset:

Not only is the said something difficult to define, but in the humble opinion of this writer, it is something that is impossible to define, since it is not possible to endow the reality of apartheid legislation a legal garb that does not contradict international law and the international conventions to which the State of Israel is a party.

What is the Israel Lands Administration

The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) was established by power of the Israel Lands Administration Law of 1960, which, along with the Israel Lands Law, 1960, and Basic Law: Israel Lands, 1960, constitute the judicial infrastructure for managing State lands (including the lands of the Development Authority and of the Jewish National Fund).

Prior to the establishment of the ILA, lands which came under Israeli sovereignty following the war of 1948 were managed by three organizations: the Jewish National Fund (JNF) managed the lands that it had purchased since the beginning of the Zionist settlement in Palestine (including the over 2 million dunams of 1948 Palestine refugee rural and urban properties allegedly purchased from the State in the wake of the 1948-49 war); the Development Authority, which was established by power of the Development Authority Law of 1950 Ð managed the lands of the 1948 Palestine refugees (the "absentees" and the "present-absentees") which were entrusted to the Custodian of Absentees' Property; and the State of Israel, constituting the successor of the British Mandate Ð managed State lands, the lands that had been registered prior to 1948 on the name of the British Mandate High Commissioner.

At the present time State lands (including the Development Authority lands) constitute approximately 76% of the entire territory of the State of Israel within the borders of 4 June, 1967 (otherwise known as the "Green Line") and the JNF lands constitute approximately 17% of same. Basic Law: Israel Lands of 1960 determines the principle, that Israel Lands (lands owned by the State, by the Development Authority and by the JNF), are not to be sold (but only leased) and that ownership of same is not to be transferred. In addition, the Israel Lands Laws of 1960 sets forth the cases in which exceptions may be made to the principle that was determined in the Basic Law. As already notes above, only approximately 7% of the entire territory of the State of Israel in the aforementioned borders is privately owned by Jews and/or Arabs.

To this legal foundation one must add the World Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel (Status) Law of 1952, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Law of 1953, and the Covenants between the Government of Israel and the Zionist Executive, also known as the Executive of the Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel of 1954 and the Jewish National Fund of 1961 respectively. Upon the signing of the Covenant of 1961 the Israel Lands Administration became the institution which managed all State Lands (including those of the Development Authority) as well as JNF lands, namely, the totality of Israel's "national lands" in the terminology of political Zionism.

Unlike the JNF lands, State Lands, as the term implies as well as by definition, are lands which ought to be designated for the public weal, that is, for all citizens of the State of Israel, "Jews" and "non-Jews" alike. The purpose of the aforementioned series of laws is to violate this norm and to prevent the settlement of "non-Jews" Ð first and foremost the Palestinian-Arab citizens of the State of Israel (let alone 1948 Palestine refugees) Ð not only on lands registered under the ownership of the JNF and its subsidiaries, but also on all State Lands, some than 93% of the entire territory of the State of Israel within the borders of 4 June, 1967. The late Zerach Wefhaftig, a former Minister of Religious Affairs, articulated this issue with great clarity when he introduced Basic Law: Israel Lands of 1960 to the Knesset on behalf of the government:

One year after the passing of the aforementioned Israel Lands Law of 1960, the Covenant Between the Government of Israel and the JNF in 1961 was signed. On the basis of the said Covenant, two supreme Councils were to be established to determine land policy in Israel: the Israel Lands Council under the control of, and subordinate to, the government, and its executive arm, the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), on one hand, and the Land Reclamation and Development Council under the control of the JNF (Paragraph 15 of the Covenant) with a separate executive arm, the Land Development Administration subordinate to same, on the other hand. In practice, only the Israel Lands Council was established. The Land Reclamation and Development Council was not established. The chairman of the Israel Lands Council is currently the acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and its members (9 plus the chairman, ten in total) are appointed by the government. The ILA Council is directly subordinate to the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Employment (ICE). As noted above, the Land Reclamation and Development Council was not established, but the Land Development Administration was established and is currently headed by Gershon Avni, who is directly subordinate to the Director General of the JNF, Yitzhak Elyashiv.

Up to February 1995, the nomination or appointment of members to the Israel Land Council was done by power of a purely administrative directive of the government and was not grounded in law. In light of the passing of the Basic Laws, notably Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty of 1992, which, according to the interpretation of several jurists, most prominently President of the Supreme Court, Justice Aharon Barak, determined the principle of equality as a constitutional principle Ð the JNF and the Jewish Agency feared that their status and role within the State of Israel would be infringed upon and/or that they would be restricted since they were organizations that operating on the basis of discriminating against the non-Jewish citizens of the State of Israel. Hence, the JNF and the Jewish Agency lobbied to maintain the status quo by means of legislation. Thus, Section 4a of the Israel Lands Law was amended so that half of the members of the Israel Lands Council minus one were to be nominated and appointed by the JNF.

Thus, since seemingly it is not blatantly written anywhere in the Laws of the State of Israel, that a "non-Jew" is legally prevented from leasing land in 93% of Israel lands on an equal footing with a "Jew" (whereas it is blatantly written in the of the JNF which is joined by means of the Covenant of 1961 to the Government of Israel), it was possible for government representatives abroad and for government agencies in Israel to project a false representation of the State of Israel as the "only democracy in the Middle East."

The Israel Lands Administration and the Jewish National Fund

Notwithstanding the detailed array of legislation outlined above, the legal status of Israel lands administered by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) and registered on the name of the State as state domain is not juridically identical to the legal status of the lands administered by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) but registered on the name of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) or any of its daughter companies.

Israel Lands Administration is authorized in law, and subject to government resolutions, to allocate lands to all citizens of the State of Israel, Jews as well as non-Jews, notably Arab. The JNF, on the other hand, is prohibited by its mandate and by its from doing so. This is the fundamental reason for the continued separate juridical existence of the JNF in the State of Israel and the JNF's insistence on maintaining the separate registry of its properties.

The Jewish National Fund has a long-term historical consciousness. The JNF is cognizant of the historical reality of states rising and falling and is aware of the possibility that the land tenure regime in the State of Israel might change from a political Zionist (apartheid) regime to a democratic regime. JNF lands are designated for "Jews only". They were purchased in order to constitute a national endowment on behalf of "the Jewish people" in perpetuity. Until the establishment of the State of Israel, and as long as the JNF operated as a voluntary organization, the degree of damage that was caused to the Palestinian people as the result of its operations in the field was relatively limited. However, following the establishment of the State of Israel, and upon the incorporation of the JNF under Israeli law as the primary instrument for land reclamation and development with regards to all "Israel Lands," including State lands - under the terms of the Covenant Between the Government of Israel and the JNF, and consequent to the government resolution recognizing the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency and the JNF as the authorized agencies in the State for the purpose of reclaiming, developing and settling lands, some 93% of the territory of the State of Israel in its pre-1967 borders have been effectively reserved in law and in practice for settlement and development on behalf of "Jews only" denying access on an equal footing to the non-Jewish citizens of the state, notably its Palestinian-Arab citizens, not to speak of the its 1948 Palestine refugees.

Approximately 93% of the territory of the State of Israel inside the 1949 armistice lines (otherwise known as the "Green Line") are classified in law and by force of the Covenant Between the Government of Israel and the JNF, as being designated for settlement and development by "Jews only". Only approximately 7% of all lands inside pre-1967 Israel are registered in the Land registry (Tabu) as private lands that are exempt from the apartheid restrictions that designate land for "Jews only." These private lands are partially under "Jewish" ownership (most were purchased arguably legally prior to 1948) and some are under "Arab" ownership (the little that was left under the ownership of the Palestinian Arab citizens of the State of Israel after the Nakba and the waves of massive land confiscation in the course of the first three decades of the existence of the State of Israel).

As aforesaid, since 1948 (or, more correctly, since the passing of the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency (Status) Law, the Jewish National Fund Law, Basic Law: Israel Lands (together with the Israel Lands Law and the Israel Lands Administration Law); and the signing of the respective covenants between the Government of Israel, the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund Ð the said Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund (let alone the World Zionist Organization) have ceased to be voluntary bodies. By power of their status enshrined in the laws of the State of Israel, they constitute the two most important instruments by means of which the government implements its policy of racist segregation of settlement for "Jews only".

As was aforementioned, these systems are supported by the resolution of the government to recognize the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency and the JNF Ð organizations that are committed by their mandates and by their Articles of Association to serve "Jews only" Ð as the qualified agencies of the State for the purpose of reclaiming, developing and settling lands. Therefore, the non-Jewish citizens of the State of Israel, and primarily the Palestinian Arab citizens, let alone the 1948 Palestine refugees, are prevented from purchasing and/or leasing housing on an equal footing in locations that are established on earmarked State lands, such as are allocated by the Israel Lads Administration to the Jewish Agency, in its capacity of land and housing entrepreneur (settlement movement).

In principle, though rarely in practice, these restrictions should not apply, as a matter of law, to commercial entrepreneurs (construction firms) or to others (associations, unions, corporations) that do not discriminate. The latter, as a matter of principle, should be entitled to allocate Israel Lands Administration lands from the supply of State lands that are under ILA management, and thereby to enable any citizen of Israel who can afford to do so, to purchase and/or lease housing through them on an equal footing. In other words, settlements that are established on ILA lands and with regards to which the entrepreneur involved in the establishment of which is not the JNF or the Jewish Agency are not in principle blocked off in law to the non-Jewish citizens of the State of Israel. Nevertheless, as a matter of practice, such a settlement has yet to be established.

In contrast, and not surprisingly, given the settler colonial values of political Zionism, the mainstream ideology informing apartheid Israel, prime financial resources have been dedicated to establish settlements that are closed in law to the non-Jewish citizens of the State of Israel, numbering some 264 rural settlement by 1947, plus 446 by 1966 - totalling some 710 inside the "Green Line" (and, by the time of writing of this essay, well over 1,000 inside the "Green Line" and the post-1967 occupied territories). The legal structure of the vast majority of rural and suburban settlements (kibbutzim, moshavim, and community settlements) is anchored in a three-way agreement between the settlement movement (e.g., the Jewish Agency), the State (the Israel Lands Administration) and a third party (the settler nucleus). Usually, the third party is a not-for-profit association or a cooperative association (the third party also may be an individual). The vast majority of community settlements have been established under the terms of the Cooperative Associations Ordinance of 1938, but in principle, not every community settlement entails the establishment of a cooperative association and it is possible to establish a community town as a municipal unit outside the framework of the Cooperative Associations Law.

Conclusions

The State of Israel is a state regulating racism through Acts of Parliament - an apartheid state. Anyone who denounces racism and apartheid in the name of human rights and universal principles (including racism against Jews which is commonly called "anti-Semitism") should rightly apply those principles to themselves and their own back-yard as well.

Anyone who argues for the right of the citizens who are registered as "Jews" in the Population registry to purchase and/or to lease land, any land, in the entire territory that is subject to Israeli sovereignty and government between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, must first open the market for purchasing and/or leasing lands, any lands, to citizens who are registered as "Arabs" in the entire territory that is subject to Israeli sovereignty and government between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (let alone the right of the Arab-Palestinian refugees of 1948 and their descendents to return and to have their rights to the titles of their properties inside the State of Israel restored, inter alia, under the stipulation of their entitlement to citizenship in the "Jewish State" on the basis of UN General Assembly Resolution 181(ii), and under the stipulation of their right to return in conformity to Article XIII of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the basis of UN General Assembly Resolution 194(iii)).

As long as the apartheid laws of the State of Israel, such as those enumerated above (not to mention the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945) are not removed from the legal code of the State of Israel, the purchasing of lands by "Jews" from "Arabs" must be vehemently opposed and the purchase and/or lease of lands and housing by "Arabs" from "Jews" should be encouraged and increased.

Against the massive system of purchasing lands for "Jews only", which has, just too often, been mediated since the beginning of the Zionist settlement in Palestine by Arab middlemen, the individuals and organizations that are committed to democratic values in the State of Israel must set up a counter-system, including a network of middlemen and middlewomen, with the view to assisting in the purchasing and leasing of lands and properties by Arabs everywhere in the State of Israel, including in community settlements designated for "Jews only".

And against the Zionist apartheid settlement, a settlement and housing system should be set up, to operate on a non-discriminatory basis. AL-BEIT: Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Israel was established in order to aid in setting up such a system.

However, without international anti-apartheid solidarity support, such as a boycott of Israeli industrial and agricultural products, a boycott of education, cultural and sport institutions in the State of Israel, and international economic sanctions against Israel such as those that were directed towards the Apartheid Republic of South Africa (up to 1990), it would seem that these initiatives alone would be hard pressed to reach the point of motivating the legislative system in the State of Israel to revoke the legal foundation of the reality of apartheid in the country of Palestine, and to remove the system of apartheid laws, the bulk of which were described hereinabove, from the legal code of the State of Israel.

Political Zionism is one of the forms of apartheid and the appropriate penalties prescribed by the International Covenant on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of 1973 should be applied to its institutions and to the State of Israel, which has granted those institutions statutory status by power of parliamentary legislation.

It is the duty of civil society, including professional associations, trade unions, and church organizations, as well as the responsibility of every concerned individual of conscience to single out the State of Israel for the same specific attention that was paid to the apartheid regime of the Republic of South Africa, inter alia in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of 1973, not because racism in Israel as defined in international law is that different from Racism in THE UK OR North AmericaÐ but because apartheid in Israel (the regulation of racism through Acts of Parliament) is akin to apartheid in the former (pre-1994) South Africa.

It is the duty of civil society, including professional associations, trade unions, and church organizations, as well as the responsibility of every concerned individual of conscience to mobilize for the divestment in and boycott of Israeli industrial and other products; of academic, cultural and sport institutions (including research grants and international conferences); and for the enforcement of international sanctions by the UN against the Government of the State of Israel in order to assist the apartheid State of Israel in the same way as the apartheid Republic of South Africa was assisted in the process of replacing the apartheid regime with a democratic constitution.

NULLIFY ISRAELI JNF LAW!

REVOKE THE CHARITABLE REGISTRATION OF THE JNF AND CANCEL ITS TAX EXEMPT STATUS IN THE UK!

ANNUL THE NGO OBSERVER STANDING OF THE JNF IN THE UNITED NATIONS!

About the Author

Dr. Uri Davis, an anthropologist, born in Jerusalem in 1943, has, from 1975, devoted his academic work to a critical examination of the philosophy and practice of political Zionism. He has published many books and articles on this subject and is considered to be one of the foremost researchers in his field. His most-known books include:

Documents from Israel 1967-1973: readings for a Critique of Zionism, Ithaca Press, London, 1975;

Israel: An Apartheid State, Zed Books, London, 1987 & 1990;

The Jewish National Fund, Kegan Paul International, London, 1988 (in association with Walter Lehn);

Crossing the Border (A Political Autobiography), Breirot, Tel-Aviv, 1994;

Citizenship and the State: A Comparative Study of Citizenship Legislation in Israel, ordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, Ithaca Press, London, 1997;

Citizenship and the State in the Middle East: Approaches and Applications (co-editor with Nils Butenschon and Manuel Hassassian), Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, 2000;

Apartheid Israel: Possibilities for the Struggle Within, Zed Books, London, 2003

Uri Davis has been active in the field of defending human rights in general, and the rights of the Palestinian people in particular since 1965. He is the chairperson of AL-BEIT: Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Israel; senior director for legal and political affairs of Mosaic Communities: Association for Multinational Housing in Israel; Honorary Research Fellow at the Universities of Exeter and Durham in the UK; and Observer-Member of the Palestinian National Council (PNC).