Along with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International on Tuesday called Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians, who are treated as an “inferior racial group,” “apartheid.” according to this human rights organization. His remarks were castigated by the Jewish state.
In April 2021, HRW had thrown a stone into the pond by joining the Palestinian and Israeli NGOs who had decided to use the term “apartheid” to designate Israel’s policies concerning the Palestinians and the Israeli Arabs, descendants of the Palestinians who remained. in Israel after the country was created in 1948.
“Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across these territories clearly smack of apartheid,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard told a news conference in Jerusalem. soon after the publication of a report on this subject.
“Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank or Israel, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and are systematically disenfranchised,” she added. The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yair Lapid, strongly rejected the allegations of the NGO, saying that it “reported the lies spread by terrorist organizations”.
Arab citizens of Israel
“Arab citizens of Israel are not going to have the same experience of apartheid as those of Gaza, but that does not mean that there is no apartheid regime,” said Ms.me Callamard, whose NGO however says it wants to avoid comparisons with South Africa.
As of Monday, Mr. Lapid had asked Amnesty to “withdraw” its report.
“Amnesty was once an esteemed organization […]. Today it is exactly the opposite,” he said, accusing the NGO of having become “a radical organization”.
“Israel is not perfect, but it is a democracy committed to international law, open to criticism,” he said.
He also criticizes the general secretary for accusing him of anti-Semitism. “I don’t like to say that if Israel weren’t a Jewish state, no one at Amnesty would dare to attack it, but I don’t see any other explanation. »
“A criticism of the practices of the State of Israel is absolutely not a form of anti-Semitism. Amnesty strongly denounces anti-Semitism”, defends Mme Squid. “We are saying that in 2021, 2022 there is apartheid in Israel, we are not saying that there was an apartheid system in 1948,” she adds.
During the press conference, the head of Amnesty also rejected the allegations that the NGO “stigmatized” Israel, recalling that it published reports on Iran, Israel’s pet peeve.
Appeal to the UN
The Palestinian Authority, which controls part of the occupied West Bank, has praised Amnesty International for its “courageous and just” work on behalf of the Palestinian people.
The Islamist movement Hamas, which is in power in the Gaza Strip and considered terrorist by Washington and the European Union, applauded the “professionalism” of the NGO.
For his part, the spokesman for American diplomacy, Ned Price, said “reject the idea that the acts of Israel constitute apartheid”, while ensuring “to take seriously all accusations of human rights violations. ‘man “.
The report released on Tuesday further argues that the Palestinians are considered a “demographic threat” by Israel.
Today, some 6.8 million Jews and as many Arabs live in Israel, Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, territory where Israel has imposed a blockade since Hamas seized power in 2007, according to official data.
Arrived last week in Jerusalem, Mr.me Callamard conducted talks in the West Bank and in Israel, but did not speak with Israeli diplomatic officials, despite a request made “in October” to the authorities.
Embargo on arms sales
In its report, Amnesty urged the UN Security Council to impose an “embargo” on arms sales to the Jewish state, a country which in 2021 experienced a war with Hamas, a movement considered terrorist by Washington and the European Union, and “sanctions” on Israeli officials “most implicated in the crime of apartheid”.
The NGO also asked the International Criminal Court, which launched an investigation last year for “crimes against humanity” perpetrated against the Palestinians, “to add the crime of apartheid” to its file.
Israel, for its part, is leading a diplomatic campaign to convince Western countries to support it before the Court.
But for Amnesty, it is above all time for the international community to put an end to the “fatigue” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, argued its secretary general, while the peace process remains at an impasse.