| Apartheid was a system in South Africa under which a small minority of whites ruled over the larger black majority population. Apartheid subjected blacks to severe political, economic and social discrimination and segregation. They could not be citizens, vote, participate in the government or fraternize with whites.
Israel, a democracy like the U.S., gives equal rights, liberties and protections to all its citizens. Israeli-Arabs participate as full and equal members in Israeli society. While Israel, like all multiethnic democracies, struggles with the disadvantages that its minorities experience, its laws try to eradicate—not endorse—discrimination.
Israel never formally annexed the West Bank or Gaza, and the Palestinians are not Israeli citizens and wish to have their own state. Today, Palestinians have their own government, the Palestinian Authority. |
