On July 6, 2023, the Toronto Star published a story by Josef Federman of the Associated Press (AP) which included the claim from human rights groups that Israel is practicing apartheid against the Palestinians. Mr. Federman is the News Director in Jerusalem for AP and helps shape their coverage of Israel and Palestine. Although the AP occasionally publishes articles about someone making a claim of apartheid, CJPME and others have been pushing AP for months to include these claims as context in their general reporting on Palestine, which would help readers make sense of the broader issues.
Federman’s July 6 article did exactly this. Here is an excerpt:
Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, for their state. The land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, made up of pre-1967 Israel and the occupied lands, is populated in roughly equal parts by Palestinians and Israeli Jews. Pollsters predict an eventual Palestinian majority because of higher birth rates.
Proponents of partition say it would create a democratic Israel with a clear Jewish majority in defined borders and enable Palestinians to realize their national aspirations.
Without partition, the default is an apartheid-like reality in which a shrinking Jewish minority controls a growing Arab majority with few political rights. Leading rights groups say an apartheid system is already in place.