BREAKING: Israel is committing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution on Palestinians, says a landmark report.

@HRW says Israel's "systematic oppression" of Palestinians includes:
segregation
denying equal rights
limiting their political power, population

Around 6.8 million Israeli Jews and 6.8 million Palestinians live across Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israel is the sole ruling power on most of that land, with laws systematically designed to:
subjugate
discriminate against
dispossess Palestinians
( @HRW)

In 2019, PM Netanyahu wrote: "Israel is not a state of all its citizens."

4.7 million Palestinians under Israeli control denied rights to citizenship, freedom of movement
Palestinians also make up ~20% of Israeli citizens, but denied equality in housing and citizenship

Israel has two discriminatory tracks to citizenship — one for Jews and one for Palestinians, says @HRW.

Jews from anywhere in the world automatically granted citizenship via Law of Return.
Indigenous Palestinians subject to conditions systematically used to reject them.

Israel has 280+ illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, where about 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.

Israelis can move freely. Palestinians are blocked from:
traveling between their own cities
using certain roads (even those built on their land)

The Israeli govt has a stated goal of maintaining a "solid Jewish majority" in Jerusalem.

@HRW reports Palestinians in the city are:
subject to a different legal rights
granted only conditional "residency"
denied a clear path to citizenship
denied building permits

The UN declaring apartheid in South Africa a crime against humanity led to amplified international pressure to end the racist policy.

1974: South Africa expelled from UN Gen. Assembly
1986: U.S., UK imposed sanctions
1990-93: South Africa fully repealed apartheid laws

The UN first defined the crime of apartheid in 1973 to describe South Africa's system of white minority rule.

Nelson Mandela, who led South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle, said in 1997: "Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people."