The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) in London submitted a written statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which was circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.

Entitled “The Apartheid in Israel Against Palestinians: A Cruel System of Domination and a Crime Against Humanity”, the document referred to a recent report by Amnesty International which categorically identified Israel as systemically committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.

The report said that Israel enforces such a system against Palestinians through laws, policies and practices which ensure  their prolonged and cruel discriminatory treatment. This takes place through massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings,  forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians

The written statement also referred to an earlier Human Rights Watch calling upon Israel to dismantle all forms of systematic oppression and discrimination that privilege Jewish Israelis at the expense of Palestinians and otherwise systematically violate Palestinian rights in order to ensure the dominance of Jewish Israelis.

B’Tselem also released a report entitled “A regime of Jewish Supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is Apartheid”, which contained incriminating research, evidence, and testimonies of apartheid in Israel. B’Tselem categorically recognised Israel as an apartheid state comparable to that of South Africa’s, and stated: ‘The Israeli regime’s rationale, and the measures used to  implement it, are reminiscent of the South African regime that sought to preserve the supremacy of white citizens, in part through partitioning the population into classes and sub[1]classes and ascribing different rights to each.”

PRC said it is deeply concerned with the impunity Israel is enjoying despite the countless reports from globally reputable human rights organizations condemning apartheid practices.

PRC called on the international community to take the necessary measures towards Israel, in order to ensure a categorical end to its cruel and callous apartheid  upon the Palestinian people.