The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday welcomed Amnesty International’s report which labeled Israel an apartheid state, calling for the occupation state to be held accountable for its practices against Palestinians.
This came after the London-based international human rights group released its report during a press conference in occupied East Jerusalem, where it said Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank, Naqab, and beyond, “all amount to a system and crime of apartheid.”
The 280-page document, entitled ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians’, outlines how the Israeli state segregates and controls Palestinians in order to maintain Jewish hegemony.
“Amnesty International’s new investigation shows that Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control: in Israel and the OPT, and against Palestinian refugees, in order to benefit Jewish Israelis. This amounts to apartheid as prohibited in international law,” the report reads.
With the publication of @amnesty's report confirming Israeli apartheid, Palestinians are one big step closer to freedom, justice and equality.
Our South Africa moment is nearing. With your support we can and shall #DismantleApartheid!
Full statement ➡️ https://t.co/fjkDqt5Kyl pic.twitter.com/ygF50roRB5
— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) February 1, 2022
“Laws, policies and practices which are intended to maintain a cruel system of control over Palestinians,” Amnesty adds in its report, “have left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, and in a constant state of fear and insecurity.”
“Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said.
NEW: Amnesty International report finds Israeli authorities are committing the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Palestinian refugees. https://t.co/0XY4wJbiM4
— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) February 1, 2022
According to Callamard, given the extent and scale of the oppression, the international community “has an obligation to act”.
Indeed, Amnesty’s report specifically calls on the UK, the US and the EU, to recognize this “crime of apartheid” and readdress their relationship with Israel.
Amnesty’s report follows similar initiatives from Israeli organization B’tselem and New York-based group Human Rights Watch, in January and April 2021 respectively.
Read the full text here: Amnesty International – Apartheid Israel
(The Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)
