Yes, Isræl is an apartheid state. Several international human rights organizations (Human Rights Watch, 2021; Amnesty International, 2022) have reviewed and stated that it is, in fact, apartheid.
Apartheid is a system of segregation or discrimination based on ethnicity/race. For example, in apartheid South Africa, there was a lack of equality in economic rights. Below is a list explaining what apartheid looks like in occupied Palestine. Many of these examples are collected from reports by Defense for Children (DCI) in Palestine as well as international human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW). I’ll be coming back to add more information soon, but think of this as almost a lit review of the info included in various reports over the past decade.
- Palestinians have limited mobility. In the West Bank, there is an apartheid wall dividing neighborhoods, and even families are separated by it. There are hundreds of military checkpoints at which Palestinian civilians can wait hours to get to where they need to go, even if it is work, school, home, or grocery store. This lack of freedom of movement is a collective punishment which is illegal (Amnesty International, 2022). This interactive map from BT’Selem explains a lot: https://conquer-and-divide.btselem.org/map-en.html
- Limited access to employment. This, of course, has an adverse economic impact on Palestinian families. Heads of households are left with no choice but to do exploitive manual labor. The checkpoints restricting movement (mentioned above) also impact employment opportunities. (example from Haaretz, 2022) Isræl also exploits via child labor (Human Rights Watch, 2015)
- “Evictions” of homes and neighborhoods. Neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank undergo ethnic cleansing. For instance, in Sheikh Jarrah, many families were pushed out of their homes in 2021 to make way for settlers from Europe, the USA, and Isræl. It is a widespread and systematic practice by Isræl to forcibly evict and displace Palestinians from East Jerusalem and “de-palestinize” the city. (UN Human Rights) This is also called ethnic cleansing.
- Constant intimidation tactics and threats of violence. Settlers threaten Palestinians in the West Bank. There are so many examples. Here are a few: Armenian Christians, Hebron, and even the UN talks about the settler violence in the West Bank.
- State and settler violence: There have been countless incidents of occupation forces murdering Palestinians for no reason at all. Recently, a farmer was killed while harvesting olives (Times of Isræl, 2023). In 2021, Saíd Odeh, a teenage boy, was killed while walking home with a friend (Defense for Children Palestine, 2021). To read more stories of how settler and state violence impacts children, visit: https://www.dci-palestine.org/tags/settler_and_soldier_violence
- Asymetrical treatment under the law. These tactics are a form of abuse and psychological warfare.
— Israel has long used discriminatory laws and policies to separate Palestinians from their families. For example, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza cannot gain legal status in Israel or occupied East Jerusalem through marriage, denying their rights to family unification. This policy has forced thousands of Palestinians to live apart from their loved ones; others are forced to go abroad, or live in constant fear of being arrested, expelled or deported. (Amnesty)
— Parents or their children are abducted (“arrested”) in the middle of the night. Israeli authorities’ systematic denial of fair trial rights to Palestinian children detained by Israeli forces from the occupied West Bank and prosecuted in Israeli military courts constitutes arbitrary detention. (DCI Palestine, 2023)
— The blockade in Gaza is a form of collective punishment. This is a war crime.
- Lack of safety and freedom of the Press: Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was targeted by occupation forces and killed in May 2022. Later that month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) documented at least 20 journalist killings by members of the Isræl Defense Forces over two decades. Occupation forces’ killings undermine independent reporting since they keep silencing the voices witnessing and investigating apartheid and war crimes. As of today, [updated] December 4, 2023, CPJ’s preliminary investigations have identified 63 journalists and media workers have been killed since the Israeli aggression escalated in October. Of the journalists who were confirmed dead: 56 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese. (click here for updates from CPJ)
- Suppressing of community programs and social services. On the 19th October 2021, Israel’s Defense Ministry issued a military order declaring six Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist” entities (Amnesty, 2022). This put these community organizations and human rights groups and their staff/volunteers in jeopardy — they were harassed with arrests and confiscation of property. To counter this false incriminization, the #StandWiththeSix campaign was launched. In August 2022, UN experts* condemned Israel’s attacks against Palestinian civil society in the occupied West Bank (OCHR).
- Water is also occupied, not just land. One of its most devastating consequences is the impact of Isræl’s discriminatory policies on Palestinians’ access to adequate supplies of clean and safe water. Since 1967, Palestinians have been unable to drill new water wells, install pumps, or deepen existing wells, in addition to being denied access to the Jordan River and freshwater springs. Isræl even controls the collection of rainwater throughout most of the West Bank, and rainwater harvesting cisterns owned by Palestinian communities are often destroyed by the Isræli army. While restricting Palestinian access to water, Israel has effectively developed its own water infrastructure and water network in the West Bank for the use of its own citizens in Israel and in the settlements — which are illegal under international law. (Amnesty International, 2017) Access to clean water is restrained. Wells are poisoned, or cement is poured into them. That has been happening for years. In my family’s home, there is no running water; our village relies on wells for access to water. Water is a human right. While restricting Palestinian access to water, Isræl has effectively developed its own water infrastructure and water network in the West Bank for the use of its own citizens in Isræl and in the settlements — which are illegal under international law. (Amnesty International, 2017)
- Unequal voting rights. Many Palestinians/Arabs do not have the right to vote. Yet the US calls Isræl a “democracy.” Palestinians in the occupied territories do not have the right to vote in Isræl’s elections despite the government controlling so much of their lives in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (NPR, 2022).
Palestinians across the world just want to live in dignity– to be able to raise their families safely, have access to quality food and clean water, provide for their families, to live out their dreams.
Free Palestine.
A CEASE FIRE NOW is the bare minimum. End apartheid. The US needs to stop arming and funding genocide and military occupation.
To take action, visit —