Whatever fiction of a democratic state Israel was able to conjure over the last 50 years is crumbling before our eyes. The question really is whether apartheid is sufficient to even begin to describe what is looking more and more like a living concentration camp. -rg

Human rights group blasts West Bank travel restrictions as 'racist'
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
The Yesh Din organization, which works to protect human rights in the West Bank, wrote a letter of complaint to Defense Minister Amir Peretz Monday over army regulations released Saturday limiting Palestinians from traveling in Israeli vehicles in the West Bank and Jordan Valley.
The warrant, signed on Sunday, states that only Palestinians with permits can travel in vehicles bearing Israeli registration plates. The new regulations will come into effect in mid-January.
Yesh Din's chairman condemned the regulations as racist.
"We are talking about an order which reminds one of legal orders from the Dark Ages and racist regimes? This constitutes a clear illegality, even an international crime. It is an apartheid crime," the chairman, Paul Kider, and his attorney Michael Sfarad said.
According to the letter, the new regulations breach international conventions against separating people based on nationality.
"Striking at fundamental rights based on ethnic or national identity is defined as oppression, and such oppression is a crime against humanity. There is no doubt that the order seriously compromises fundamental rights ? to freedom of movement, social and professional relations and especially to dignity ? and there is no disputing that it is directed only at those who are Palestinian," it said.
Yesh Din representatives said the judicial and international implications of the order will be negative for human rights workers in the territories.
Such workers regularly transport Palestinians in Israeli vehicles, for example, to file complaints to police. From now on, such transportation will be prohibited.
"The order harms the same echelons of the Israeli and Palestinian public, which even in these difficult days are connected through cooperation and mutual assistance," the letter said.
The drafters of the letter are requesting that Peretz cancel the order immediately.
GOC Central Command Yair Naveh issued the regulations "due to repeated attempts [at times successful] by Palestinian terror organizations to exploit Israeli vehicles in order to infiltrate Israeli population centers and carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians," the IDF said in a statement.
Permits recognizable by the new regulations include: Palestinians traveling with a family member with Israeli citizenship; Palestinians with entry permits into Israel or into Israeli communities in the West Bank; Palestinian holding a certificate verifying employment in an international, medical or governmental services; and Palestinians traveling on an Israeli bus which holds a permit from the Civil Administration to operate bus services in the West Bank and Jordan Valley.