For the first time in its history, Human Rights Watch has identified Israel as an “apartheid state.” Israel is committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution against Arabs in the occupied territories and Israel itself, Human Rights Watch says. An international rights watchdog accused Israel on Tuesday of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians – and against its own Arab minority – that amount to crimes against humanity. New York-based Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report which, it said, was not aimed at comparing Israel with apartheid-era South Africa but rather at assessing “whether specific acts and policies” constitute apartheid as defined under international law. Apartheid amounts to state-sanctioned racial discrimination and is considered a crime against humanity. “We recognize that the word ‘apartheid’ stings. But at the same time, apartheid is the reality for many Palestinians,” Farida Deif, head of the Canadian chapter of Human Rights Watch, said in an interview. The Israeli government accused Human Rights Watch of harbouring an “anti-Israel agenda” and called the New York-based organization an “unreliable propaganda pamphlet.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the report. Just weeks ago the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it would investigate war crimes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with the Israeli military and armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas named as possible perpetrators. In its report, HRW pointed to Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement and seizure of Palestinian-owned land for Jewish settlement in territory occupied in the 1967 Middle East war as examples of policies it said were crimes of apartheid and persecution. “Across Israel and the (Palestinian territories), Israeli authorities have pursued an intent to maintain domination over Palestinians by exercising control over land and demographics for the benefit of Jewish Israelis,” the report says. “On this basis, the report concludes that Israeli officials have committed the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution,” as defined under the 1973 Apartheid Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute.
Syed Tahir Rashdi
Shahdapur
