BEIJING, October 30. /TASS/. Israel and Palestine could end their conflict by taking a lesson from how South Africa put a stop to apartheid - by giving equal rights to marginalized population groups, Tehran University Professor Seyed Hamzeh Safavi Homami said on the sidelines of the 10th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing.
"I believe that the Israeli side will never recognize the UN resolutions on two nations. I think the best way to solve the problem is to use the example of how South Africa ended apartheid, by giving equal rights to everyone," the political scientist said at a session devoted to the security architecture in the Middle East. According to him, eventually, the South African authorities recognized the fact that all racial groups should have equal rights, and there was no need to split into two separate states.
"Stability and peace depend on treating people equally regardless of religion or race. Systematic oppression will get you nowhere. If you want to settle the conflict between Palestine and Israel, you have to treat everyone equally. You can force peace on people for years, but it won't be a sustainable peace," the expert said. In his opinion, the division into Jewish and Arab states is difficult to implement in reality because of the geographical location of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Apartheid was a regime of racial discrimination that existed in South Africa (before 1961 - the Union of South Africa) from 1948 to 1994. The ideology of apartheid was based on separating the country's various racial and ethnic groups. In 1993, after two years of negotiations involving the main political forces and movements, an interim constitution proclaiming the abandonment of apartheid was adopted. It came into effect in April 1994.