The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission has become a model for other societies seeking to rebuild their ethical order, to reckon with the past, and to balance peace and justice. Despite the many differences between apartheid South Africa and the Israeli military regime in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, there are enough similarities which could suggest hope for change by constructfing a political context within which the testimonies of victims and their assailants could be heard. This article studies the role and limitations of human rights organizations in processes of truth and reconciliation and focuses on the tension between the individual victim and the collective victim.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BoraineA. (2000). A Country Unmasked: Inside South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Oxford University Press; Cape Town.
2.
BrinkA. (1980). Dry White Season. William Morrow & Co.; New York.
3.
CohenS. (1991). The Human Rights Movement in Israel and South Africa: Some Paradoxical Comparisons. The Harry S. Truman Institute, Occasional Papers No.1.Hebrew University; Jerusalem.
4.
GavisonR. (October 3, 2007). The Right and the return. Ha'aretz.
5.
Golan-AgnonD. (2007). The Israeli Rights Human Movement—Lessons from South Africa. In Crime, Social Control and Human Rights (DownesD.RockP.ChinkinC.GeartyC., eds) pp. 270–293. Willan Publishing; London.
6.
GreensteinR. (2006). On Citizenship and Political Integration: What Lessons Can We Learn from the Rise and Fall of the Apartheid Regime?Mishpat uMimshal, 10, 117–125.
7.
Ha'aretz editorial. (2007). Where is the Occupation? Ha'aretz, 3 October 2007)
8.
HamermeshM. (1986). Maids and Madams. (Channel 4).
9.
JabareenY. (2008). Constitution Building and Equality in Deeply-divided Societies: the Case of the Palestinian-Arab Minority in Israel. Wisconsin International Law Journal, 26 (2), 345–376.
10.
KretzmerD. (2002). The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court and the Occupied Territories. State University of New York Press; New York.
11.
LeviG. (2006). Ha'aretz, 3 September 2006.
12.
McGrealC. (2006a). Worlds Apart. The Guardian, 6 February 2006.
13.
McGrealC. (2006b). Brothers in arms — Israel's Secret Pact with Pretoria. The Guardian, 7 February 2006.
14.
OzA. (1983). In the land of Israel. p. 165. Flamingo, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; London.
15.
PogrundB. (2006). Why Depict Israel as a Chamber of Horrors Like No Other in the World? The Guardian, 8 February 2006 (also published in Ha'aretz).
16.
RouhanaN.Sabar-HuriA. (2006). Aggression, the Space of Tolerance and the Privileged Situation. In Knowledge and Silence: On Mechanisms of Denial and Repression in Israeli Society (HerzogH.LahadK., eds) pp. 67–71. Van-Leer Institute Jerusalem/Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House; Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. (In Hebrew).
17.
SaidE. (1999). Truth and Reconciliation. Al-Ahram, 20 January 1999.
18.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report (1998–1999). 5 volumes. Macmillan; London.
