Gazan behind Mars drone says visiting home is no small step sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Palestinian demonstrators stand in front of a Jewish settlement during a protest, in Kafr Qaddum in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on November 13, 2020. Reuters
JERUSALEM: An international rights watchdog accused Israel on Tuesday of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians and against its own Arab minority that amount to crimes against humanity.
New York-based Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report which, it said, was not aimed at comparing Israel with apartheid-era South Africa but rather at assessing “whether specific acts and policies” constitute apartheid as defined under international law.
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the claims as “both preposterous and false” and accused HRW of harbouring an “anti-Israeli agenda,” saying the group had sought “for years to promote boycotts against Israel”. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the report.
April 28, 2021 Share
A human rights group has accused Israel of committing crimes against Palestinians that it says are tantamount to crimes against humanity.
Human Rights Watch said in a 213-page report released Tuesday that Israel has implemented policies that persecuted Palestinians and committed apartheid against them within its borders and in the occupied territories.
The report cited Israel’s limits on Palestinian movement and its seizure of Palestinian land for Jewish settlements in territory Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
“Across Israel and the (Palestinian territories), Israeli authorities have pursued an intent to maintain domination over Palestinians by exercising control over land and demographics for the benefit of Jewish Israelis,” the report says.
Israel condemns preposterous report accusing it of crimes against humanity and apartheid towards Palestinians
Human Rights Watch released a new 213-page report on Tuesday accusing Israel of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians and its own Arab minority
Israel has rejected the report but it has been welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
The report comes just weeks after the International Criminal Court announced it would investigate war crimes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip