Israel’s System Is Nothing Less Than Apartheid
(AF /Jaafar Ashtiyeh)
Human Rights Watch released a devastating report this morning, underscoring what some have said for years: Israel’s systematic mistreatment of Palestinians is apartheid.
The 213-page investigation shows how Israeli government policies and practices toward the 5 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and nearly 2 million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, are discriminatory and amount to persecution.
“Whether you're talking about moving to a different city or marrying the person that you want to marry, going to school, accessing a hospital right now, getting access to COVID-19 vaccines – this systematic oppression is occurring,” Akshaya Kumar, director of crisis advocacy and special projects with the group, told AJ+ producer Kateryna Gordiychuk in an interview.
The term “apartheid,” which HRW used in their report, comes from an Afrikaans word meaning “apartness,” and was used to refer to racist oppression of Black South Africans under white minority rule in the latter half of the 20th century. It’s now a legal term used by the entire international community and consists of three basic parts according to international conventions:
The intent to preserve the domination of one racial group over another.
Systematic oppression over the marginalized group by the dominant group.
Inhumane acts.
The report calls on Israel to give equal rights to Palestinians, Kumar said, adding that the U.S. government (which supplies Israel with significant amounts of aid and support) needs to hold Israel accountable. “Otherwise,” she said, “every American taxpayer who contributes their taxes to the U.S. government then somehow becomes complicit in this same apartheid system.”
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