/ 21 September 2012

De Waal review shows one-track vision

Shaun de Waal makes a compelling case in support of the slur of "apartheid Israel".
Shaun de Waal makes a compelling case in support of the slur of "apartheid Israel".

Shaun de Waal ("<a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-09-14-pastrami-and-apartheid-1" target="_blank">Pastrami and apartheid</a>", Friday, September 14), makes a compelling case in support of the slur of "apartheid Israel" and yes, there are issues that certainly are a blot on Israeli society.

He mentions that apartheid South Africa had no parallel to Operation Cast Lead and that is true. What he conveniently omits is what precipitated that event: the 8000 or so rockets fired daily into the civilian populations of southern Israel, over a period of years, closing down all normal activity and traumatising children. One wonders if he has ever read or spoken to anyone living under that barrage, which is still happening as I write. This is part of daily life in Israel, something no other society has had to live with since World War II.

 The terror perpetrated against Israel since its birth is absent from the narrative De Waal reproduces in his review of the film Roadmap to Apartheid. Three full-scale wars with the intent of wiping Israel off the map, the intifada and years of suicide bombings targeting civilians are ignored. Succumbing to a litany of facts turned on their heads by a vast propaganda organisation that supports an industry based on victimhood, De Waal should research his subject with a little more circumspection.  I also oppose the Israeli settlements on the West Bank. But one needs to look at how many times a just and equitable settlement was offered to the Palestinians &ndash; terms and conditions even their supporter, Saudi Arabia, urged them to accept &ndash; and rejected time and again by a corrupt leadership bent on the destruction of the Jewish state.  

Reading the piece gives the impression that there is only one side to this conflict, only one narrative and only one victim. Most roadmaps have more than one route; perhaps these should also be considered by this newspaper? &ndash; <em>Allan Wolman, Johannesburg</em>