The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated that the latest report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territories provides documented international evidence that Israel systematically violates international law, which obliges all states to eradicate apartheid systems.
The Department noted that the report relied on a series of reliable field documents and reports, in addition to laws enacted by the Knesset, executive decisions, and military orders, all of which clearly illustrate the prevalence of apartheid and racial discrimination against Palestinians. Among the most prominent of these practices are:
1) Dual legal and judicial standards based on national identity: Settlers are subject to Israeli civil law, while Palestinians, the indigenous population, are subject to military law and face daily arrests. (Of more than 1,500 killings of Palestinians, only 112 investigations were opened, resulting in just one conviction, according to the UN.)
2) Control over indigenous populations and their natural resources, and confiscation of land and property for settlement and military purposes: Israel confiscated over 52 km² of land in the West Bank within just two years. Palestinian homes are demolished under pretexts of legal violations, while building permits are denied, and settler presence is actively expanded with government support, creating a coercive environment that drives Palestinians from their land.
3) Restriction of freedom of movement for Palestinians through military checkpoints and a complex permit system affecting work, medical care, and education, while settlers enjoy full mobility on designated roads with complete protection from the occupying army.
4) Fragmentation of Palestinian political identity: Palestinians are treated in separate legal frameworks to prevent political unity and deny the right to self-determination, while Israeli laws consider settlement in the West Bank a national value and grant Jews alone the right to self-determination.
5) Enactment of dozens of discriminatory laws by the Knesset affecting Palestinians in the West Bank, alongside administrative, security, and military decisions, all aligning with the international definition of an apartheid system. (Over 30 discriminatory laws against Palestinians were enacted in two years.)
The Department affirmed that through these laws and practices, the occupation legitimizes a system of racial discrimination and reestablishes itself as an unlawful and racist entity opposed to democracy. This was one of the reasons why the international community and the United Nations classified Zionism as a form of racism in 1975.
The Department stressed that the new UN report not only documents Israel’s blatant violations of international law, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the UN Charter, but also shows that Israel is gradually building the infrastructure of an apartheid system based on segregation and discrimination in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine concluded by emphasizing the importance of this UN testimony, which, as usual, will face passive engagement from the international community and its legal and judicial institutions whenever Israel is involved. This encourages Israel to continue defying international law, relying on support from some Western countries. The Department warned that the continuation of this international approach will entrench impunity and deepen the crisis of the international system, creating a distorted reality that neither serves justice for the oppressed nor achieves international justice.