A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says Israeli authorities are committing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians.
The report titled, A Threshold Crossed: Israel Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution was launched at a virtual briefing in New York on Tuesday.
The report’s findings are based on what the NGO calls an overarching Israeli Government policy to maintain the domination of Jewish Israeli’s over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.
Human Rights Watch report says Israeli authorities are committing apartheid crimes:
HRW has called for the international community to reevaluate its engagement with Israel and adopt an approach centered on human rights and accountability.
The damning 213-page report labels official Israeli actions against Palestinians as discriminatory intent and is based on years of Human Rights Watch documentation, review of Israeli government statements and planning documents and case studies.
HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth says, “Admitting that reality is important because it speaks to the depth of the suffering imposed on so many Palestinians. Now many people have averted their eyes from this reality in the hopes that the peace process will somehow solve the problem, we all would love to see a political resolution, to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. But we shouldn’t be killing ourselves. This protracted process does not justify an intolerable status quo. After nearly 54 years of occupation, after 30 years of a peace process, we cannot ignore the ugly reality today. The Israeli govt is committing the crimes of Apartheid.”
Abusive Israeli Policies Constitute Crimes of Apartheid, Persecution https://t.co/gOUip3Fa35
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) April 27, 2021
The report highlights five key areas of abuses:
- Sweeping movement restrictions of Palestinians defined by a permit regime
- Mass expropriation of Palestinian land – amounting to more than 2000 square kilometers
- Coercive policies that make it impossible for Palestinians to build homes and schools
- Denial of residency rights to Palestinians in the Occupied Territory
- And Mass suspension of civil rights for 4.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
- They also dismiss arguments that the three-decade-long peace process would deliver a reprieve from the incremental repression as Eric Goldstein, HRW’s Acting Executive Director for the Middle East and North Africa explains.
“We make very clear in this report that the crime of apartheid is committed by individuals in the Israeli authority, it is certainly not an accusation against Israeli people and it is certainly not an accusation against Jews. Secondly, the accusation that we focus disproportionally on Israel, is absolutely false. Our record of coverage as my colleague Ken Roth has said of all of Israel’s neighbours, we have also called the situation in Myanmar just last year one of Apartheid practiced against the Rohingya people; just last week we accused Chinese authorities of practicing the crime against humanity of persecution against the Muslim Xingjian population so the accusation that we focus on one country is patently false,” says Goldstein.
HRW says they reached out to the Israeli Government to discuss their concerns last year but received no response and addressed criticism the report was expected to elicit.
Urging the international community to adjust their relations with Israel to meet the moment including targeted sanctions and possible investigations from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
HRW Israel and Palestine Director Omar Shakir says, “Based on these grave findings, we call on the international community to take a range of steps in line with where we’ve found crimes against humanity in other contexts. All these recommendations aim to end complicity in the crimes.”
Breaking: @hrw finds that Israeli authorities are committing crimes against humanity of apartheid & persecution. Thread w findings in 213pg report on Israel’s rule of Palestinians. Time to recognize reality for what it is, find #Courage2FightApartheid 1/27 https://t.co/1jBqM9VmLr pic.twitter.com/V4gtBlL13J
— Omar Shakir (@OmarSShakir) April 27, 2021
In a statement, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called the report a collection of lies and fabrications, bordering on anti-Semitism, and part of HRW’s ongoing campaign against Israel.
