What are your thoughts on Israel being labelled as an apartheid state by Amnesty International ?
I live under Israel’s apartheid. My thoughts is that I agree with Amnesty International. Israel perfectly fits the description, in addition to it being a settler colonial state built on warcrimes and dispossession of indigenous Palestinians.
Israeli laws and governance privilege Jewish Israelis and discriminate against Palestinians. This two-tiered system is the textbook definition of apartheid. Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all agree. From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, Israel controls all of historic Palestine and imposes separate-and-unequal rule over the Palestinian people.
- Israel prevents Palestinian refugees from returning home but grants citizenship to any Jewish person in the world. And Palestinian citizens of Israel are not allowed to rent or own public land, which Israel reserves for the exclusive use of Jewish people.
- Israel imposes harsh military rule on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel denies millions of Palestinians the right to vote for the government that controls every aspect of their lives, but Israeli settlers living on stolen Palestinian land are subject to civil law and have full rights. Palestinians under the age of 55 have not enjoyed a single day of freedom in their entire lives. Children are harassed by settlers on their way to school, women are forced to give birth at checkpoints that soldiers will not let them through, and cancer patients in the Gaza Strip die because Israel does not allow them to leave for medical care.
- Israeli apartheid even intrudes into the private lives of Palestinians. Under Israeli laws and military regulations, Palestinian citizens of Israel are not allowed to live with their spouses if they are from the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Foreign passport holders are required to tell Israeli military authorities about their personal relations with Palestinians. And Palestinians under military rule in the Gaza Strip are not allowed to live with Palestinians under military rule in the West Bank.
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