To read the original article, click here.

[Excerpt:]

Apartheid does not exist inside Israel. On the West Bank there is military occupation and repression but it is not apartheid. The apartheid comparison is false and confuses the real problems. As we travelled around the country it was clear to us that South Africans generally have limited knowledge about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But they hold many prejudices and these are fed and manipulated by organisations which are vehemently anti-Israel, to the extent of wanting destruction of the Jewish state, such as the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, the Muslim Judicial Council and the Russell Tribunal.

We were shown an e-mail calling for protests against our visit: it seemed that the anti-Israel hardliners were upset by an Israeli and a Palestinian speaking on the same platform and promoting peace.

BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, is noisily vocal and gets publicity in South African media. While we were there it ran Israel Apartheid Week on several university campuses. But it did not garner wide support; some scheduled speakers did not even turn up.