Breaking: @hrw finds that Israeli authorities are committing crimes against humanity of apartheid & persecution. Thread w findings in 213pg report on Israel's rule of Palestinians. Time to recognize reality for what it is, find #Courage2FightApartheid 1/27 https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/27/abusive-israeli-policies-constitute-crimes-apartheid-persecution

While coined in relation to South Africa, legal treatises recognize apartheid as a universal legal term. Apartheid is prohibited as a matter of customary international law & is also a crime against humanity consisting of three primary elements. 2/27

The related crime against humanity of persecution consists of (1) a discriminatory intent, when leading to (2) severe deprivation of fundamental rights of a racial, ethnic or other group. 3/27

More than two years in the making, “A Threshold Crossed” evaluates Israel’s treatment of Palestinians based on years of @hrw documentation, case studies & review of govt policies & statements. It evaluates these facts against elements of crimes of apartheid & persecution. 4/27

Findings of apartheid & persecution by @hrw are based on (1) a policy Israeli authorities pursue across Israel & occupied territory (OPT) to maintain domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, & (2) grave abuses against Palestinians in OPT, including in East Jerusalem. 5/27

First, @hrw found that Israeli officials have sought to engineer & maintain a Jewish demographic majority, maximize land for Jewish Israelis & confine Palestinians to dense enclaves across Israel/OPT, which amounts to discriminatory intent to dominate, one element of crimes. 6/27

Officials openly seek to mitigate “demographic threat” Palestinians pose. Eg, Israeli law denies Palestinians expelled/who fled from homes & languishing in camps nearby from returning, while allowing Jewish citizens aboard to move to Israel & automatically gain citizenship. 7/27

Authorities have pursued a policy to “Judaize” the Negev and Galilee, areas that account for 2/3rds the land inside Israel. Policies hem in Palestinian areas, while allowing Jewish areas with the power by law to exclude Palestinians from living there to flourish. 8/27

Israeli govt's plan for the Jerusalem municipality, including both the west & occupied east parts of city, sets the goal of “maintaining a solid Jewish majority in the city” & specifies the demographic ratios it hopes to maintain btw Jewish Israelis & Palestinians. 9/27

In West Bank, govt plans, such as 1980 Drobles plan, call on authorities to “settle the land btw minority population centers,” noting that doing so would “remove any trace of doubt about our intention to control” these areas forever. Land grabs & actions on ground back up. 10/27

Govt enforces “separation” policy btw Gaza & West Bank. It has effectively barred Gaza residents from living in WBank as part of strategy to effectively take its large Palestinian population off the demographic ledger, gerrymandering Jewish majority in Israel & rest of OPT. 11/27

Pursuant to this intent, @hrw finds that Israeli authorities have erected a two-tiered system across Israel & OPT: privileging Jewish Israelis & granting them same rights/privileges wherever they live, & repressing Palestinians at varying intensities, wherever they live. 12/27

In the OPT, the means used amount to systematic oppression, the second prong of apartheid. Many abuses at core of crime [land grabs, residency revocations, denial of building permits] have no security justification or use security as a pretext to advance demographic goals. 13/27

In West Bank, Israeli authorities subject Palestinians to draconian military rule while applying civil law to Jewish Israeli settlers living in same territory, enforce segregation & plunder land/resources from Palestinians & allocate it to settlers in discriminatory fashion 14/27

In annexed E Jerusalem (occupied under intl law), authorities maintain separate sets of rules for Jewish Israelis & Palestinians: eg guaranteeing residency rights to Jewish Israelis, but, for largely stateless Palestinians, providing conditional, revocable residency status. 15/27

In Gaza, authorities impose a generalized travel ban on 2+ million Palestinians, robbing them w few exceptions of their freedom of movement. They also severely restrict entry/exit of goods & have effectively turned 25x7 mile (40by11 KM) territory into an open-air prison. 16/27

In Israel, @hrw found institutional discrimination: eg in Negev, authorities refuse to recognize or connect 35 Palestinian Bedouin communities to basic infrastructure & make it impossible for their 90K residents to live lawfully in their homes, which they regularly raze. 17/27

Amid systematic oppression, @hrw found five clusters of inhumane acts & severe abuses of fundamental carried out by Israeli authorities in the OPT, the final element of both apartheid & persecution. 18/27

First, sweeping movement restrictions: Gaza closure, imposition of permit regime, erection of separation barrier in part on Palestinian land & nearly 600 checkpoints/other closure obstacles across West Bank, often turning short commutes into hours-long, humiliating ordeals 19/27

Second, more than 1/3 of the land in the West Bank confiscated from Palestinians (2 mill dunams, 500K+ acres), w/ 99% of public land allocated by Israeli govt given to Jewish Israelis in illegal settlements, leaving Palestinians to live in dozens of disconnected enclaves. 20/27

Third, coercive policies in most of West Bank under full Israeli control (Area C) & E Jerusalem that make it effectively impossible for 100s of 1000s of Palestinians to build. Btw 2016-18, 100x more demolition orders than building permits for Palestinians in Area C issued. 21/27

Fourth, stripping 500K+ Palestinians in OPT of legal status since 1967 & effectively freezing the family reunification process since 2000. 22/27

Fifth, denial for generations to 4.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank & Gaza of their basic civil rights, such as freedom of speech, assembly or association, or a say in the affairs that affect them most. 23/27

We've worked on Israel/Palestine for 30+ years. These are most stark findings @hrw has ever reached on conduct of Israeli authorities. We call on them to end apartheid/persecution & dismantle all forms of discrimination privileging Jewish Israelis at expense of Palestinians 24/27

For intl community, we call for investigations, prosecutions & targeted sanctions against Israeli officials implicated in apartheid/persecution, conditioning military assistance to Israel on ending crimes & vetting engagement w Israeli govt to ensure non-complicity in them. 25/27

A 54-year-occupation is not temporary. A 30+ year peace process won’t alone dismantle systematic repression. Those who strive for peace, whatever the solution, should recognize reality for what it is- apartheid & persecution- & bring to bear tools needed to end grave abuses 26/27

Prominent voices have long warned that Israel's rule over Palestinians could give rise to apartheid. That threshold has been crossed. Apartheid & persecution is the reality today for millions of Palestinians today. 27/27 #Courage2FightApartheid https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution