Abbas, who often accuses Israel of practicing apartheid, said in Berlin that “Israel’s undermining of the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders and turning it into a reality of an apartheid state will not serve the security and stability in our region”. According to Reuters, in his own comments, Scholz pushed back. “Of course we have a different view of Israeli politics, and I want to make it clear here that I do not support the use of the word ‘apartheid’ and I don’t think it properly describes the situation,” he said. Abbas used the same term last month when he hosted US President Joe Biden in Bethlehem. Denouncing Israel in a statement with Biden at his side, the Palestinian Authority leader protested what he called Israel’s “racial discrimination and apartheid against our people.” Get The Times of Israel Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories By signing up, you agree to the terms The Palestinian leader also used the term when addressing world leaders at the UN General Assembly. In 2012, for example, he blamed Israel’s “apartheid system against the Palestinian people.” In 2017, he said: “He trusted us and he trusted you to end apartheid in Palestine… Can the world accept an apartheid regime in the 21st century?” Israel has long denied accusations of apartheid, saying its Arab minority enjoys full political rights and that its security arrangements in the West Bank are necessary to fight terrorism – a far cry from its former racist segregation policies. South Africans based on the ideology of white supremacy. It also rejects the term “occupation” to describe its activities in the West Bank and Gaza. It views Gaza, from which it withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005, as a hostile entity ruled by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas and views the West Bank as disputed territory subject to peace negotiations – which have been absent for years. In February, Germany rejected an Amnesty International report that accused Israel of policies that amounted to apartheid. A former leader of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party said in 2012 that the situation in the West Bank city of Hebron was “apartheid,” sparking condemnations that eventually prompted the SPD to apologize for the comment. According to a statement by the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency, during their meeting on Tuesday, Abbas and Scholz discussed “ways to protect the two-state solution by calling on the international community to stop Israeli attacks and recognize the state of Palestine and full membership in the United Nations.” He added that “President Abbas briefed the German chancellor on the ongoing Israeli attack on the Palestinian people and their properties, and on Muslim and Christian holy sites, as well as the unprecedented acceleration of settlements and land grabbing.” It’s not (only) for you. Supporting The Times of Israel is not a transaction for an online service, such as subscribing to Netflix. The ToI community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions around the world, for free. Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and unlock access to some great Community-only content. But your support gives you something deeper than that: the pride of participating in something that really matters. Join the Times of Israel Community Join our Community Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this You are a devoted reader We are really glad that you read X Times of Israel articles last month. That’s why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago – to provide discerning readers like you with the must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world. So now we have a request. Unlike other media, we have not set up a paywall. But because the journalism we do is expensive, we invite readers to whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community. For just $6 a month you can support our quality journalism while enjoying the ADS-FREE Times of Israel, as well as access to exclusive content available only to members of the Times of Israel Community. Thank you, David Horovitz, founding editor of the Times of Israel Join our community Join our community Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
