Lobby Your Communities to Take the Apartheid-Free Pledge!

by Tura Campanella Cook and Regina Birchem
WILPF-US Middle East Peace & Justice Action Committee

July 2023

What would society in Israel and Palestine be like if it were Apartheid-Free? What if all communities were without elements of exclusionary institutions, laws and practices, and had economies that work for all with no one stateless?

The situation of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, specifically Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, continues to deteriorate. It is clear that the Israeli occupation since 1948 and furthered in 1967 has gone from an illegal military occupation to an apartheid regime, a crime against humanity. Last November discussions began within a North American coalition of faith groups under leadership of the American Friends Service Committee to urge collective action by organizations of conscience to end apartheid, settler colonialism, and military occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Pledge for Apartheid-Free Communities

WILPF-US has endorsed the pledge for Apartheid-Free Communities, as Barbara Taft reported in her May 2023 eNews article. More action ideas and supporting materials became available after the public launch in June. The social justice committee of your faith organization, your local anti-war or civil rights group, tenants council, food co-op, book club, WILPF branch, or any “community” can fill out this form to take the Pledge:

• We affirm our commitment to freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people and all people: and
• We oppose all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination and oppression; and
• We declare ourselves an apartheid-free community and to that end,
• We pledge to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism and military occupation.

Your community can discuss Apartheid-Free Communities in the context of where you live and how apartheid plays out in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Who enables and supports the oppression financially, shares military weaponry, and uses the research on surveillance and control?

To help you and others in your communities deepen your understanding of the issues, there are many excellent resources at the Apartheid-Free website.

Apartheid in Context

Apartheid (the Afrikaans word used to describe institutionalized segregation in South Africa) is defined in international law as a crime against humanity that involves “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” These inhuman acts include murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, legislative discriminatory measures, the persecution of people resisting apartheid, and more.¹

We can recognize this: institutionalized segregation was well established in the United States by the Black Codes following the Civil War and the Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. It was the US status quo in 1948 when institutionalized segregation was established in white-ruled majority-Black South Africa. That same year, the Jewish state of Israel was created within majority non-Jewish historic Palestine where Muslims, Christians, and Jews had lived together under British colonial rule, during the Ottoman Empire, and earlier. What began in Israel as illegal occupation became apartheid.

Actions to Live Into Your Pledge

Each community has a different context and is on a different journey toward addressing the evils of apartheid and all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression. As of mid-June, 114 community organizations have signed the Pledge.

Check out the action guide for ideas about how to live into your pledge.

Footnotes

[1] For a detailed discussion of the definition of apartheid and how it applies to the situation in Palestine/Israel see also resources by the Institute for Middle East Understanding, Amnesty International, and Kairos.