He’s been called “the most hated man in Israel”. Others have described him among the country's "most heroic".

A reporter and columnist with the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, Gideon Levy has consistently called attention to Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian Territories for more than three decades.

On Sunday (March 29), he’s scheduled to speak in Vancouver for the first time in five years.

Levy will discuss Israel’s March 16 re-election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, what today appears to be the end of the two-state solution, and what he describes as the “foundation for an apartheid state that is yet to come”.

The Straight recently reached Levy on the road between stops of a cross-Canada speaking tour. The transcript of that conversation appears below. It has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Georgia Straight: “What are you going to be talking about in Vancouver on March 29?”

Gideon Levy: “It is now the morning after the elections in Israel, and people keep asking themselves, ‘Where does Israel go to? And where does the whole region go to? Is it a turning point or is it not a turning point?’ So I’ll refer to those questions and try to analyze Israel society vis-à-vis the Israeli occupation which, in two years, will be 50 years old.”

GS: “You’ve noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could soon surpass Israeli founding father David Ben-Gurion as the country's longest running leader. How has Netanyahu accomplished this?”

GL: “I think that Netanyahu found the secret of political survival: namely, his game is spreading fear….He is doing so more and more in recent years, presenting everything as an existential threat, and [suggesting], ‘Who else can defend Israel except for Mr. Netanyahu?’”

GS: “And yet Israel is arguably safer than it has ever been, with violence attributable to Palestinians down significantly since the 1980s and ‘90s.”

GL: “Israel has never faced as little threat as it does today. The majority of the Arab world is now preoccupied with domestic problems….The threats are much, much smaller. I don’t have to elaborate on Syria. Egypt, we know what is going on there and we know the peace treaty will be kept between Israel and Egypt. Jordan, we know. And the rest of the Arab world is occupied with subjects other than Israel. The Palestinians are weaker than ever before and divided. Israel really faces much less of a threat than it did many years ago. And Israel has become so much stronger, possessing any possible weapon in the world. And so I think it is really an exaggeration.”

GS: “On Netanyahu’s March 16 re-election, you wrote, ‘Something is truly broken, possibly beyond repair.’ Can you explain what you mean by that?”

GL: “I was referring mainly to domestic issues. I think that in recent years, we have broken the very fragile Israeli democracy—or the understanding of democracy. Many institutions which are supposed to be the gatekeepers are much weaker today than a few years ago, including civil society, NGOs, the Supreme Court, and the media. And this will be very hard to repair.”

GS: “Something else you wrote on Netanyahu and the election: ‘History will remember that he was the first Israeli prime minister to speak the truth.’ Can you remind us of what happened and why was this significant?”

GL: “Two days before the election, Netanyahu, in his last efforts to collect more and more votes, he answered a question. He was asked if he still stood behind a Palestinian state. And he said, ‘No, there will be no Palestinian state. Not in my time.’ And I thought that this was a rather important step. Because I think no Israeli prime minister ever really meant to enable the establishment of a Palestinian state. And here comes Netanyahu, who never meant to do it either, obviously, and he says the truth and calls the bluff and tells the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world, ‘Listen, there will be no Palestinian state’.

“I truly believe there will be no Palestinian state, because Israel is strong enough to prevent it. Netanyahu called the bluff and put an end to the charade, which has gone on for 25 years. Israeli prime ministers have, one after another, claimed that they are in favour of the two-state solution, but they have not only done nothing to implement it, but done everything possible to sabotage it.”

GS: “Without a two-state solution, what future does Palestine have?”

GL: “That really is the question. If there are not two states, then there is one state. The only open question is, what character will it have? Let’s face it, it has been one state for the last 48 years. The only problem is it has not been a democratic state. Because in the front, you have a democracy, but in the backyard, you have a very brutal tyranny. A military occupation which doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world today, contradicting any basic law, contradicting international law, and contradicting the biggest consensus in the world. Because there is no state in the world that recognizes the Israeli occupation. So I think the struggle within discourse from now on should be talking about equal rights.”

GS: “You’ve said that with this election, Israel has laid the ‘foundation for the apartheid state that is to come’.”

GL: “Yes. I don’t think Israel today is an apartheid state. But I am truly convinced—deeply convinced—that the regime in the West Bank, in the occupied West Bank, is an apartheid regime. There is no doubt about it. There are two people there sharing one piece of land, where one people have all the rights in the world and the other people don’t have any rights. And the same goes for natural resources, freedom of movement, and everything else. This is apartheid. So in the backyard, there already is apartheid. And this will become the permanent reality. Israel will become an apartheid state as a whole.”

GS: “We’ve been discussing the West Bank. Where does Netanyahu’s re-election and the potential loss of the two-state solution leave the Gaza Strip?”

GL: “Gaza should be a part of the Palestinian state, but I don’t see it happening. Gaza? Nobody talks about Gaza. Gaza is forgotten. The only way people are reminded of Gaza and its existence and its problems is by the launching of rockets on Israel. That is the only way that the world and Israel is made ready to discuss Gaza. And then when there is a ceasefire, all promises are gone with the wind. Like it was during the war last summer [when 66 Israeli soldiers and more than 2,200 Palestinians were killed during six weeks of fighting]. All the guarantees, all the promises—nothing is left now. And you can only wait for the next war there.”

GS: “What can you say to people who have grown so discouraged by the conflict’s cyclical nature and lack of progress on peace?”

GL: “I don’t have much hope either. But I don’t think we have the luxury to ignore it. Because the reality continues to be unacceptable and criminal and inhuman. The fact that there is no hope should not make us close our eyes. On the contrary.”

Gideon Levy is scheduled to speak in Vancouver at the Canadian Memorial United Church at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 29. He will also appear in Victoria on Saturday, March 28. Both events are presented by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. Tickets cost $15 in advance or $20 at the door.