London: The system Israel invoked to treat Palestinians in their land reflects the system of apartheid and has been inducing oppression on the Arabs in the land, an Amnesty International report published on Tuesday said. Israel's said mechanisms, placed on a legal pedestal, are crimes against humanity demanding prosecution before International Criminal Court, Arab News reported, citing Amnesty findings.
The report suggests that the major-heartless crime against the Palestinian population is evicting them by demolishing their homes, agriculture etc., practices of intimidation or creating challenging living conditions since 1948. In Occupied Palestinian Territories, the process has led Palestinians to lose their ancestral homes while the Jewish population gathers domination in the land, and Israel is implementing this draconian policy in the open. For that, Israel provides its Jewish people with the state's protection and privileges through law.
Amnesty report says that Israel privileging its Jewish citizens is increasing their wealth as well as well-being at the expense of Palestinians. The stringent movement-control over Palestinian citizens through Israel's security hubs and checkpoints is intended for complete control over Palestinian land and people. While in occupied Palestine, it is just security checks, in Gaza, Arabs are not allowed to travel abroad.
But Amnesty International East Jerusalem chief Sale Higazi told Arab News that Palestine never dropped its resistance and found creative ways to fight apartheid. There is solidarity among Palestinians, as well as the international community, he said. Despite being fragmented by the Israeli regime, Palestinians fight against its policies and practices as a unit.
Israel, obtaining the report before publication, took its response to Twitter. Israel Embassy, London, tweeted that Amnesty shamefully represented the country in their report as it constitutes distortion and falsehood. The "anti-Semitic" report recycle lies and serves those who seek to demonize Israel, the tweet alleged and further stated that if the country weren't Jewish, Amnesty would not smear it with such erroneous damaging report.
Higazi but reacted to the tweet that the accusations of Amnesty International being 'anti-semitic' is not new. But Israel is worried and scared that they are exposed, he said and added that his organization would campaign against Israel's system and hold those responsible accountable.
Apartheid, the institutionalized regime of oppression and domination by one ethnic group over the other, was pronounced a crime against humanity in 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and was upheld by the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Court. Israel had signed the 1998 Rome Statute but has not ratified it.