Seeking Mandela: Peacemaking Between Israelis And Palestinians (Politics History & Social Chan)

The ongoing violence, despair and paralysis in Israel/Palestine resembles a similar gloomy mood in South Africa during the late 1980s. Analogies with the South African case are increasingly applied to Israel/Palestine for two different purposes: to showcase South Africa as an inspiring model for a negotiated settlement and to label Israel a colonial settler state that should be confronted with similar strategies (sanctions, boycott) as applied against the apartheid regime. Both assumptions are problematic, because of the different historical and socio-political contexts. Peacemaking resulted in an inclusive democracy in South Africa, while territorial separation in two states is widely hailed as the solution in Israel/Palestine. However, a viable Palestinian state is undermined by Jewish settler expansionism and separation barriers on occupied land.