Censured for its apartheid, Pretoria boasted of greater human rights and better living conditions for blacks under white rule, complained about being singled out for opprobrium, labelled resistance terrorism and gave blacks truncated enclaves ruled by powerless chieftains. Sound familiar?

The South Africa analogy is admittedly unfair. Not even during apartheid's darkest days were blacks prevented from using certain roads (as West Bank Palestinians are) or had Apache gunships unleashed on them.