The state of Israel does indeed operate a system of apartheid against Palestinians

The recent News Letter editorial (February 7, see link below) sadly fails to engage with a single finding of Amnesty International’s recent report on Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians or with the experiences of Palestinians living under this cruel system.

I strongly recommend that the author of the editorial reads the 280-page Amnesty report. It was developed through four years of rigorous and extensive research on laws, policies and practices, where we have documented in detail how Israeli authorities treat Palestinians as an inferior racial group and systematically deprive them of their rights.

It documents how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, the forcible transfer of Palestinian people from their land, drastic restrictions on movement, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system amounting to apartheid.

Apartheid is defined under international law. No two systems of oppression and domination will ever be identical, and the treatment does not need to be identical to that experienced historically in South Africa. Indeed, Amnesty has previously found that the Myanmar government subjects the Rohingya people to a system of apartheid.

Apartheid is both an international wrong and a crime against humanity. When a crime against humanity is committed, the international community has an obligation to hold the perpetrators to account.

Crucially, Israeli law treats Palestinians as an inferior and separate group defined by their racialised non-Jewish, Arab status.

We conclude that this apartheid system is enforced against all Palestinians living under the effective control of Israel – whether in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or in other countries as refugees.

Amnesty recognises that Jewish people, like Palestinians, claim a right to self-determination and does not challenge Israel’s desire to be a home for Jewish people. However, international law does prohibit Israel from discriminating against Palestinians and others who already live in that country, including with respect to rights concerning family reunification, and against Palestinian refugees who have a right to return to the country. 

Like all countries, Israel has the right - and indeed an obligation under international law - to protect all people under its control. However, security-related policies must still comply with international law, and they must be proportionate to the threat posed. Security can never be a justification or pretext for human rights violations and crimes against humanity.

Though not the subject of this report, Amnesty has consistently documented serious violations by the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza. We have consistently reported on and condemned unlawful attacks by Palestinian armed groups against Israeli civilians. This includes the firing of indiscriminate rockets from Gaza into Israel, which we have called for the International Criminal Court to investigate as war crimes.

The state of Israel has been a member of the United Nations since its establishment in 1948. It is a party to international human rights conventions and other treaties and therefore must respect these obligations, including by upholding the right to equality and non-discrimination, and by ending and remedying violations of international law. This report is a call for the Israeli government to do so and thus end its system of apartheid against Palestinians.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director, Amnesty International UK

Amnesty International calling Israel an apartheid state is an unjust slur

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