Accusations of Arab Apartheid

'Accusations of Arab Apartheid refer to the allegation that the treatment of minority groups in some Arab countries resembles the treatment of black citizens in South Africa under apartheid, commonly understood as a system of laws reducing the targeted group to inferior legal status.
Africa
The American University economist George Ayittey accuses Arab governments in a number of African countries have been accused of practicing apartheid against black citizens. Countries so accused include Sudan and Mauritania.
Mauritania
According to Koigi wa Wamwere, "the ruling Arabic-speaking moors practice apartheid against , including arrest, executions without trial, expropriation of land and denial of cultural identity" with the effect that "By 1997 Moorish apartheid in Mauritania had driven 55000 black Africans into Senegal, Mali, and surrounding countries. Judging by the numbers slaughtered, black, Arab, and Moorish apartheids have killed more Africans than white apartheid in South Africa did."
Sudan
Beginning in 1991 elders of the Zaghawa people of Sudan complained that they were victims of an intensifying Arab apartheid campaign. Sudanese Arabs, who control the government, are widely referred to as practicing apartheid against Sudan's non-Arab citizens. The government is accused of "deftly manipulat(ing) Arab solidarity" to carry out policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs in Darfur. Other distinguished people who have accused the regime in Sudan of practicing "apartheid" against non-Arabs include former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler.
Bahrain
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and other commentators have accused the treatment of the Shia majority by the Sunni government of Bahrain of similarity to apartheid South Africa.
Egypt
Egypt has been accused of practicing apartheid against the ancient Coptic Christian community. The Baptist Press describes Egypt of practicing a form of "religious apartheid" under which indigenous Christians "can be terrorized, robbed and killed with impunity."
Iraq under Saddam Hussein
Sunni Iraquis are accused of having "viciously enforced ethnic and religious apartheid in Iraq for over 40 years" against Kurds, Shia and Marsh Arabs.
Lebanon
Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh and other commentators accuse Lebanon of practicing apartheid against Palestinian Arabs who have lived in Lebanon as stateless refugees since 1948. According to Human Rights Watch, "In 2001, Parliament passed a law prohibiting Palestinians from owning property, a right they had for decades. Lebanese law also restricts their ability to work in many areas. In 2005, Lebanon eliminated a ban on Palestinians holding most clerical and technical positions, provided they obtain a temporary work permit from the Labor Ministry, but more than 20 high-level professions remain off-limits to Palestinians. Few Palestinians have benefited from the 2005 reform, though. In 2009, only 261 of more than 145,679 permits issued to non-Lebanese were for Palestinians. Civil society groups say many Palestinians choose not to apply because they cannot afford the fees and see no reason to pay a portion of their salary toward the National Social Security Fund, since Lebanese law bars Palestinians from receiving social security benefits."
Calling on Lebanon to change the systematic discrimination agaoinst his people, Palestinian journalist Rami George Khouri compare Lebanese treatment of Palestinians to the "Apartheid system" of South Africa.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is often accused of practicing apartheid against its Shia citizens and against non-Muslims generally, in addition to accusations of gender apartheid.
Gender apartheid
Saudia Arabia and other Arab countires have been accused of practicing gender apartheid against women. in 1990 the National Organization for Women excoriated Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Arab countries for practicing gender apartheid. They compared the way Saudi Arabia and Kuwait treat women with the practice of racial apartheid in South Africa, saying that Arab societies "systematically oppress women. This is gender apartheid in its purest, most brutal form and should deeply offend all Americans."

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