Momentum has been gaining for the international movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel (known as BDS), in support of Palestinian national liberation. For a precedent with positive resonances, especially in the West, BDS activists cite the role the tactic played in delegitimizing the South African apartheid system. To mobilize public opinion for a repeat in Palestine, they are quick to make analogies between the situation of the black population in South Africa under apartheid and the situation of the Palestinians under Israeli rule.

But there are often blind spots in these comparisons, as when characteristics that distinguish Israel from South Africa aren’t acknowledged, or when little attention is paid to the fact that BDS was an auxiliary force in bringing down South African apartheid.

Perhaps the most striking difference at the moment is the disparity of forces on the ground: nothing in and around Palestine yet approximates the strength of the African National Congress and allied forces in and around apartheid South Africa. Palestinian liberation cries out for a fresh and renewed strategy.