Amnesty International Declares Israel an Apartheid State

Amnesty International declared Israel an apartheid state, a fact Palestinians had long believed.

In its 300 page report that systematically analyzed institutionalized discrimination committed by Israel against Palestinian refugees, the world’s most prestigious human rights organization concluded that Israel was guilty of the crime of apartheid.

The report begins with a quote from the former Israeli Prime Minister saying in a March 2019 statement that “Israel is not a state of all its citizens… [but rather] the nation-state of the Jewish people and only them.” Under international and human law, describe such a statement as racist.

Israeli laws, policies, and practices against the Palestinian people violate international human rights law, the Apartheid Convention, and the Rome Statute. Apartheid constitutes the creation and maintenance of a system or regime of oppression and domination by one racial group over another. Israel systematically pursues a policy of discrimination against a race, Amnesty reported. All the rules of Isreal are for the benefit of Jewish Israelis – a system of apartheid.

The report concludes the following:

1. Israel considers and treats Palestinians as an inferior non-Jewish racial group.
2. Israel pursues segregation systematically and highly institutionalized through laws, policies, and practices to prevent Palestinians from claiming and enjoying equal rights with Jewish Israelis.
3. Israel oppresses and dominates the Palestinian people.
4. It negates the rights of Palestinian refugees residing outside Israel and the OPT to return to their homes.
5. Israel segments the Palestinians into different geographical areas and divides them differently.
6.  It prevents the Palestinians from exercising their fundamental human rights.
7. The legal fragmentation of the Palestinian population serves as a foundational element of the regime of oppression and domination of Palestinians.
8. Israel denies the possibility of realizing equality within Israel and the OPT.
9. Israel denies nationality and residence, family life and places severe restrictions on freedom of movement.
10.  Israel violates their social and economic rights, including access to housing, adequate living standards, livelihoods, work, healthcare, food security, water and sanitation, and education.

The report concludes that Israel’s institutionalized segregation and discrimination system against Palestinians amounts to a method of apartheid and a severe violation of Israel’s human rights.

Amnesty asserts that all of Israel’s civilian administration and military authorities and governmental and quasi-governmental institutions enforce a system of apartheid against Palestinians.

Amnesty believes that Israel continues to perpetrate widespread and systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian population against a backdrop of decades of state-sponsored discrimination, segregation, and persecution.

Amnesty report documents inhumane acts, serious human rights violations, and crimes committed against the Palestinian population under international law. It examines specifically the brutal actions of forcible transfer, administrative detention and torture, unlawful killings and serious injuries, and the denial of fundamental freedoms or persecution committed against the Palestinian population in Israel and the OPT.

Amnesty concludes that the apartheid state of Israel commits these violations intending to maintain this system and amount to the crime against humanity of apartheid under both the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute.

The report recommends actions at several levels. However, the most conclusive and practical recommendation is for businesses and nations having trade relations with Israel. Next, it recommends adequate procedures and codes of conduct following international standards to ensure that you do not promote apartheid. Finally, it suggests ceasing such ties if apartheid continues to unleash its crimes.

Aslam Abdullah is a resident scholar at Islamicity.org