OIC hails amnesty report accusing Israel of enforcing 'apartheid' on Palestinians

A journalist holds a copy of Amnesty International’s report “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians,” at a press conference on its release in Jerusalem, on February 1, 2022. (AP)

• The term ‘apartheid’ was originally used for a political system in South Africa that enforced racial segregation
• Amnesty says Israeli laws, policies had left Palestinians impoverished, fragmented geographically, in constant state of fear

ISLAMABAD: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday hailed a report by Amnesty International on Israeli apartheid against Palestinians as an “international instrument.” 
The term ‘apartheid’ was originally used to refer to a political system in South Africa which explicitly enforced racial segregation, and the domination and oppression of one racial group by another. It has since been adopted by the international community to condemn and criminalize such systems and practices wherever they occur in the world. 
Amnesty International said its new investigation showed that Israel imposed a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control: in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and against Palestinian refugees, in order to benefit Jewish Israelis. 
Laws, policies and practices, which were intended to maintain a cruel system of control over Palestinians, had left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, and in a constant state of fear and insecurity, the UK-based rights group said. 
Quoting the report, the OIC said Israel’s system of oppression and domination over Palestinians constituted a “crime against humanity.” 
“The OIC hailed the report as an international instrument, considering it yet another confirmation of the violations, crimes and racial policies of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people,” it said on Twitter. 
Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories since the six-day war of 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, some 475,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank regarded as illegal under international law, alongside more than 2.9 million Palestinians. 
Clashes break out frequently in Palestinian population centers in the West Bank when Israeli troops mount incursions to carry out arrests. 
Amnesty’s 280-page report features a slew of allegations against Israel. One of the most egregious and widespread is the forcible displacement of the Palestinian people, whether through home demolitions, intimidation, legal mechanisms or by the creation of adverse living conditions. 
The OIC called on the international community to take necessary measures to make Israel account for its violations, crimes and policies of apartheid against Palestinians.