Israeli policies against Palestinians amount to apartheid says Amnesty International

A damning new report from Amnesty International published today said Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.

The investigation details how Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights.

This includes Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as well displaced refugees in other countries.

The 182-page report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, documents how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law.

This system is maintained by violations which Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.

Amnesty International says it is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation in the OPT and calls on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction to bring perpetrators of apartheid crimes to justice.

“Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem, Hebron, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.

“We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid.

“The international community has an obligation to act,”

“There is no possible justification for a system built around the institutionalised and prolonged racist oppression of millions of people.

“Apartheid has no place in our world, and states which choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

“Governments who continue to supply Israel with arms and shield it from accountability at the UN are supporting a system of apartheid, undermining the international legal order, and exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinian people.

“The international community must face up to the reality of Israel’s apartheid, and pursue the many avenues to justice which remain shamefully unexplored.”

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign has praised today’s publication of the new report by Amnesty International

IPSC Chairperson Fatin Al Tamimi said:

“Amnesty International is to be commended for publishing this powerful report, which echoes the points we Palestinians have been making for decades.

“With crystal clarity, the report shows that oppressive regime Israel imposes upon the Palestinian people is neither accidental nor temporary, but rather it is calculated, systematic and permanent. It is Apartheid, designed to ensure Palestinians remain in a position of perpetual subjugation – and in the case of Palestinian refugees, in a state of eternal enforced exile.”

“In particular we welcome the report’s recommendations for action, aimed at national, international and supranational governments and institutions.

“In the IPSC we have long argued that there must be a political and economic price attached to Israel’s systematic oppression of Palestinians and denial of their rights, so to see such clear calls for concrete international actions and sanctions is refreshing.

“From Al Haq to B’Tselem to Human Rights Watch and now Amnesty, all serious human rights organisations – whether Palestinian, Israeli or international – are clear that Israel is committing the Crime of Apartheid.

“The question is when will international governments recognise this reality and act to end Israeli apartheid?

“When will Palestinians have our South Africa moment?

“When will we be free?”

In response, the State of Israel says it ‘absolutely rejects all the false allegations that appear in the report.’

“The report consolidates and recycles lies, inconsistencies, and unfounded assertions that originate from well-known anti-Israeli hate organizations, all with the aim of reselling damaged goods in new packaging” the statement says.

“Repeating the same lies of hate organizations over and over does not make the lies reality, but rather makes Amnesty illegitimate.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said: “Amnesty was once an esteemed and respected organization.

“Today, it stands for anything but human rights.

“It’s become simply one more radical grouping of uninformed activists that echoes propaganda with no serious examination of the facts.

“Instead, Amnesty quotes the lies of terrorist organizations.

“Five minutes of serious fact checking would have been enough to learn that what appeared in this week’s report were delusional – divorced from reality.

“Israel is not perfect, but it is a democracy committed to international law and open to scrutiny, with a free press and a strong Supreme Court.

“Amnesty does not call Syria an “apartheid state” – a country whose government murdered half a million of its own citizens – nor Iran or any other corrupt and murderous regime in Africa or Latin America.

“I hate to suggest that if Israel weren’t Jewish, Amnesty wouldn’t make such an argument, but in this case, there is no other explanation”.