A Good Analysis
By Haidar Eid, The Electronic Intifada, 2 August 2010
(Haidar Eid is Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza's al-Aqsa University.)
".....The Bantustans were part of the South Africa apartheid regime's racist formula to separate the black population and preserve "white supremacy." Although the Bantustans were called "independent homelands," their inhabitants were not granted equal rights or even independent political decision-making power -- a harbinger of what is planned for the so-called independent Palestinian state within the June 1967 borders. In South Africa, the debate was about 11 states that could live side by side in peace. In spite of Pretoria's best efforts, the Bantustans gained no international recognition save from Israel.
Gaza is deprived of even this racist formula. Israel appears to have learned a lesson from South Africa. It did not appoint local leaders to provide "limited self-government" over the West Bank and Gaza. Rather, in coordination with the United States and shielded by the international community, Israel allowed "free" elections to take place so that the Bantustanization process could gain "legitimacy" and international approval with the consent of the indigenous people. Although hailed internationally, the elections which took place under occupation were a Palestinian tragedy. Israel succeeded in enticing the indigenous people in Palestine to promote the illusion of potential "independence" for segments of 22 percent of historical Palestine. These parcels of land without sovereignty would be sold to the world as an independent Palestinian state....."
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