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Guardian Report on Israel and Apartheid Mistaken

(Guardian-UK) Benjamin Pogrund - This week the Guardian published a two-part report about Israel and apartheid. I spent most of my life in South Africa, working as a journalist who specialized in exposing apartheid. Nearly three years ago I underwent an operation in a Jerusalem hospital. The surgeon was Jewish, the anaesthetist was Arab. The doctors and nurses who looked after me were Jews and Arabs. I lay in bed for a month and watched as they gave the same skilled care to other patients - half of whom were Arabs and half of whom were Jewish - all sharing the same wards, operating theaters, and bathrooms. After that experience I have difficulty understanding anyone who equates Israel with apartheid South Africa. What I saw in the Hadassah Mt. Scopus hospital was inconceivable in South Africa. The writer was deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg.
2006-02-09 00:00:00
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