Israel and its crimes of apartheid

Click here to read about two-state solution.

Why in news?

UN report has proclaimed that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid in the West Bank, Gaza and also within its own boundaries and against the Palestinian refugees.

What did the report say?

• It acknowledged that Israel is an apartheid state and it is tantamount to war crime (1977 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions) and to crime against humanity (1973 Apartheid Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute of the ICC).
• It argues that Israel is a racial regime because its institutions are premised on maintaining a Jewish nation by techniques of suppression and expulsion.
• All Palestinians suffer the consequences of Israeli apartheid.
• Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship do not have the right to nationality, which means that they can only access inferior social services, face restrictive zoning laws.
• The latest Muezzin Bill even imposes limits on the Muslim call to prayer in Israel and East Jerusalem.
• Palestinians are treated as second-class citizens, their voting rights are reduced to merely an affirmation of their subordination.

What are the major recommendations of the report?

• International Criminal Court (ICC) is asked to investigate the situation in Israel.
• The report asks that member states to allow criminal prosecutions of Israeli officials demonstrably connected with the practices of apartheid against the Palestinian people.

Source: The Hindu