Few thoughts on the apartheid framework, opportunities and limits. Palestinians have been claiming that Israel is practicing apartheid regimes for decades now, even BEFORE apartheid became a legal category and a crime against humanity under international law. A thread. /1

The analogy and comparison with apartheid thus has a longer radical history rooted in Third World liberation project. International law as a reference point for apartheid came later. Palestinians saw in South Africa, like Palestine, a racial settler colonial state. /2

They were also talking about decolonization and liberation, not just (liberal) equality. The analogy with South Africa was one of many made by Palestinians, who saw themselves as part of a larger anticolonial, anti-imperial, and antiracist global movement. /3

International law is important, but it is not everything. We cannot limit our understanding of the situation of Palestine to international law. Israel is a settler colonial enterprise that practices both apartheid and (permanent) occupation. /4

True, settler colonialism is not illegal under international law. But if we focus only on apartheid and occupation, we end up with a conversation that can easily erases Israel as a colonial project. I have seen that happen, especially (but not only) by Israelis. /5

We also end up with a conversation only about ending the occupation or ensuring equality. We need to talk about decolonization. Decolonization includes equality & ending the occupation, but is also much broader than that. /6

*an apartheid regime