Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians
“Israel has created and maintains an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination over Palestinians, which is enforced across Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] through reinforcing discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and, when seen as a totality, controls virtually every aspect of Palestinians’ lives and routinely violates their human rights.
“This system of apartheid has been built and maintained over decades by successive Israeli governments across all territories they have controlled, regardless of the political party in power at the time. Israel has subjected different groups of Palestinians to different sets of discriminatory and exclusionary laws, policies, and practices at different times, responding to the territorial gains it made first in 1948 and then in 1967, when it annexed East Jerusalem and occupied the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Over decades, Israeli demographic and geopolitical considerations have shaped policies towards Palestinians in each of these territorial domains.
“Although Israel’s system of apartheid manifests itself in different ways in the various areas under its effective control, it consistently has the same purpose of oppressing and dominating Palestinians for the benefit of Jewish Israelis, who are privileged under Israeli civil law regardless of where they reside. It is designed to maintain an overwhelming Jewish majority with access to and benefiting from the maximum amount of territory and land acquired or controlled, while restricting the right of Palestinians to challenge the dispossession of their land and property. This system has been applied wherever Israel has exercised effective control over territory and land or over the exercise of the rights of Palestinians. It is realized in law, policy and practice, and reflected in the discourse of the state from its establishment and until this day.
“While international law applies differently to the situations in Israel and in the OPT, this fact does not excuse prohibited discrimination against Palestinians in any of the areas under Israel’s control. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians inside Israel is governed by international human rights law, to the exclusion of international humanitarian law. In the OPT, Israel’s conduct is bound both by the rules of international humanitarian law relevant to military occupation (law of occupation) and its obligations under international human rights law. The law of occupation allows, and in some cases requires, differential treatment between nationals of the occupying power and the population of the occupied territory. However, it does not allow the occupying power to do this where the intention is to establish or maintain a regime of systematic racial oppression and domination.
“The continuing forced displacement of a majority of Palestinians from their land and property in 1947-49 and subsequently in 1967; the forced deportations, forcible transfers and arbitrary restrictions on their freedom of movement; the denial of nationality and the right of return; the racialized and discriminatory dispossession of their lands and property; and the subsequent discriminatory allocation of and access to national resources (including land, housing and water) combine not only to hinder Palestinians’ current enjoyment of their rights, including access to livelihood, employment, healthcare, food security, water and sanitation, and education opportunities, but also to ensure that Palestinians cannot as individuals or communities enjoy a status equal to that of Jewish Israelis in Israel, the OPT and other situations where Israel exercises control over Palestinians’ enjoyment of their rights, particularly the right of return.
“The racial discrimination against and segregation of Palestinians is the result of deliberate government policy. The regular violations of Palestinians’ rights are not accidental repetitions of offences, but part of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination.”
—Amnesty International, January 2022
https://amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Executive-Summary.pdf