Human Rights Watch
New York-based Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report which, it said, was aimed at assessing "whether specific acts and policies” constitute apartheid as defined under international law.
The Zionist regime’s foreign ministry remained defiant, accusing HRW of harboring an "anti-Israeli agenda”.
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 Zionist military named as the possible perpetrator.
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.
The report’s author, HRW Israel and Palestine Director Omar Shakir, was expelled from Occupied Palestine in 2019 over accusations he backs BDS.
Shakir denies that his HRW work and statements he made before being appointed to the HRW post in 2016 constitute active support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Shakir told Reuters that HRW would send its report to the ICC prosecutor’s office, "as we normally do when we reach conclusions about the commissions of crimes that fall within the Court’s jurisdiction.”
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said in March that she would formally investigate war crimes in the Palestinian territories, after ICC judges ruled that the court had jurisdiction there.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ruling but Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu denounced it as anti-Semitism and said the occupying regime of Israel does not recognize the court’s authority.
HRW called on the ICC prosecutor to "investigate and prosecute individuals credibly implicated” in apartheid and persecution.
HRW also said Israel’s 2018 "nation state” law - declaring that only Jews have the right of self-determination in Occupied Palestine - "provides a legal basis to pursue policies that favor Jewish Israelis to the detriment” of the 21% Arab minority, who regularly complain of discrimination.
Palestinians seek the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem Al-Quds, areas captured in the 1967 conflict, for a future state.
The Zionist regime’s foreign ministry remained defiant, accusing HRW of harboring an "anti-Israeli agenda”.
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 Zionist military named as the possible perpetrator.
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.
The report’s author, HRW Israel and Palestine Director Omar Shakir, was expelled from Occupied Palestine in 2019 over accusations he backs BDS.
Shakir denies that his HRW work and statements he made before being appointed to the HRW post in 2016 constitute active support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Shakir told Reuters that HRW would send its report to the ICC prosecutor’s office, "as we normally do when we reach conclusions about the commissions of crimes that fall within the Court’s jurisdiction.”
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said in March that she would formally investigate war crimes in the Palestinian territories, after ICC judges ruled that the court had jurisdiction there.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ruling but Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu denounced it as anti-Semitism and said the occupying regime of Israel does not recognize the court’s authority.
HRW called on the ICC prosecutor to "investigate and prosecute individuals credibly implicated” in apartheid and persecution.
HRW also said Israel’s 2018 "nation state” law - declaring that only Jews have the right of self-determination in Occupied Palestine - "provides a legal basis to pursue policies that favor Jewish Israelis to the detriment” of the 21% Arab minority, who regularly complain of discrimination.
Palestinians seek the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem Al-Quds, areas captured in the 1967 conflict, for a future state.
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