UN report: Israel has established an 'apartheid regime'

Report breaks new ground on the UN's examination of the situation in occupied Palestine by using the word 'apartheid'.

A new United Nations report accuses Israel of having
established "an apartheid regime that oppresses and
dominates the Palestinian people as a whole".

The publication comes amid renewed debate about whether,
through its settlement policy and rejection of Palestinian self-
determination, the Israeli government is creating - or even has
already created - a de facto "one-state", which critics warn
would constitute a form of apartheid.

It urged governments to "support boycott, divestment and
sanctions [BDS] activities and respond positively to calls for
such initiatives".

The report - Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People
and the Question of Apartheid - was commissioned and
published by the UN Economic and Social Commission for
Western Asia (ESCWA) and launched in Beirut.

John Reynolds, a lecturer in law at the National University of
Ireland, Maynooth, told Media report "breaks new
ground in the context of the UN's analysis of the situation in
Palestine".

Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon issued a statement
condemning the report late on Wednesday.

"The attempt to smear and falsely label the only true
democracy in the Middle East by creating a false analogy is
despicable and constitutes a blatant lie," he said.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked about the
report, said it was published without any prior consultations
with the UN Secretariat and its views do not reflect those of

the secretary-general.

The report was authored by two critics of Israeli state
practice: Virginia Tilley, professor of political science at
Southern Illinois University, and Richard Falk, former UN
special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Palestinian territories, and professor emeritus of international
law at Princeton University.

Noting how "the expert consensus [is] that the prohibition of
apartheid is universally applicable and was not rendered moot
by the collapse of apartheid in South Africa", the report argues
that Israel is "guilty of policies and practices that constitute
the crime of apartheid", a "crime against humanity under
customary international law and the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court".

The report is a "detailed analysis of Israeli legislation, policies
and practices" that highlights how Israel "operates an
apartheid regime", including through "demographic
engineering".

Palestinian citizens of Israel are described as "subjected to
oppression on the basis of not being Jewish", it said.

Palestinians in East Jerusalem similarly experience
"discrimination in access to education, healthcare,
employment, residency and building rights", as well as

"expulsions and home demolitions".









Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are governed
 by "military law" alongside Jewish settlers "governed by
 Israeli civil law", the report said.

Palestinian refugees and exiles are "prohibited from
 returning to their homes in Israel and the occupied likePalestinian territory" on the basis that they "constitute a 'demographic threat' and that their return would alter the demographic character of Israel".

As well as urging governments to back BDS , the report
recommends that the UN and its member states should
"revive the Special Committee against Apartheid, and the
United Nations Centre Against Apartheid (1976-1991)", which
would then "report authoritatively on Israeli practices and
policies relating to the crime of apartheid".

The report also suggests an advisory opinion be sought 
from the International Court of Justice "as to whether the means used by Israel to maintain control over the Palestinian people amount to the crime of apartheid".

David Keane, associate professor in law at Middlesex
University, said the new report differs from previous ones 
on the subject because it "expressly attaches the apartheid
label".

The report could contribute to an
already deteriorating relationship between the government
 of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the 
United Nations.

"For Palestinians and their allies, the report will help to provide
a solid basis for their work," Nadia Hijab, executive director of
al-Shabaka - The Palestinian Policy Network.

Citing the reputation and credibility of the authors, Hijab
described the report as "a clear, concise document" whose
recommendations are "timely and much needed".