Palestinians are victims of “apartheid” in Israel, denounces Amnesty International

As several local NGOs and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have already done, Amnesty International (AI) described Israel’s policy towards Palestinians as “apartheid”, who would be treated as “an inferior racial group”, statements refuted by the Israeli authorities. .

In April 2021, HRW caused a stir by supporting the position of several Palestinian and Israeli NGOs who had decided to use the term “apartheid” to designate Israel’s policy towards Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of that state in 1948.

Throughout this year, HRW has been using the term “apartheid” in the Israeli-Palestinian context, and now AI has published a voluminous report to explain why it has chosen to do the same, though it does want to avoid comparisons with South Africa.

“Whether they live in Gaza, in East Jerusalem, in the rest of the West Bank or in Israel, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and their rights are systematically taken away. And those cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion of Israel in those territories are clearly equivalent to apartheid”, emphasizes the organization.

For Amnesty International, Israel considers the Palestinians a “demographic threat.

According to official data, some 6.8 million Jews and as many Arabs currently live in Israel, Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a territory subjected to an Israeli blockade since the Islamist movement Hamas came to power, in the 2007.

“Arab citizens of Israel will not have the same experience of apartheid as those of Gaza, but that does not mean that there is not an apartheid regime.”, said AI Secretary General Agnès Callamard.

“I was shocked by the dehumanization of the system”, added Callamard, who arrived in Jerusalem last week. He has met with people both in the West Bank and in Israel, but has not been able to meet with any Israeli officials, despite the fact that he submitted a request “in October”.

“Lies”

On Monday, when the Amnesty International report was still embargoed, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid denounced a report “anti-semitic“, a “recycling of lies”.

“Amnesty used to be a valuable organization that we all respected. today is exactly the opposite”, Lapid said, accusing the NGO of “not be a human rights organization, but a radical organization.”

“Israel is not perfect, but it is a democracy adjusted to international law, open to criticism. I don’t like to say that if Israel were not a Jewish state no one in Amnesty would dare to attack it, but I see no other explanation.”, added the minister, a member of a government coalition supported by an Arab formation.

“Israel is in the crosshairs for being a Jewish state. This biased and politicized report ignores both acts of Palestinian terrorism and Israel’s obligation to defend its citizens against that same terrorism”, added the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder.

“Criticizing the practices of the State of Israel is not at all a form of anti-Semitism. Amnesty strongly denounces anti-Semitism and we have denounced the anti-Semitism of many (political) leaders around the world.” Callamard reacted. “What we are saying is that in 2021, in 2022, there is apartheid in Israel, we are not suggesting that there was an apartheid system in 1948.”

Call to the UN

In its report, the NGO urges the UN Security Council to impose a “embargo” to arms sales to Israel, which in 2021 waged a war against Hamas, a move that the United States and the European Union consider “terrorist”; and also asks that they be ordered “sanctions“against Israeli officials”most implicated in the crime of apartheid”.

Amnesty International also urges the International Criminal Court (ICC), which last year led an investigation into “crimes against humanity” against the Palestinians, to “add the crime of apartheid” to your case. For its part, Israel is orchestrating a diplomatic campaign to convince Western countries to support it before the ICC.

But for AI, the time has come for the international community to end the “fatigue” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said its secretary general, while the political peace process remains deadlocked.