UN rights chief describes West Bank suppression as resembling apartheid

GENEVA, Jan 7 (KUNA) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Wednesday that the "systematic asphyxiation of Palestinians' rights in the West Bank constitutes a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation closely resembling the apartheid system the world has seen before." This came in a new report issued in Geneva where he revealed that every aspect of Palestinian life in the West Bank including East Jerusalem is controlled and restricted by the occupation forces through its discriminatory laws policies and practices.
The report documented decades of severe racial discrimination by the Israeli occupation in the occupied West Bank noting that it has deteriorated rapidly since December 2022 amid a climate of impunity and widespread violence committed by occupation forces and settlers.
According to the report Israeli occupation authority apply two separate sets of laws and policies to Israeli settlers and Palestinians residing in the West Bank resulting in disparity and inequality in treatment across a range of fundamental issues including freedom of movement and access to resources such as land and water.
The report notes that since October 7 Israeli Occupation has expanded its use of unlawful force arbitrary detention and torture tighter restrictions on movement and accelerated settlement expansion.
It added that this deterioration is compounded by the continued and escalating violence by settlers with the consent support or participation of Israeli occupation forces.
The report also points out that the military legal system served as a key tool for controlling Palestinians in the occupied West Bank documenting patterns of unlawful killings and other forms of violence perpetrated by the state and settlers. It includes numerous examples of lethal force deliberately used without justification in a discriminatory manner against Palestinians and with clear intent to kill.
The report stressed that illegal settlement expansion continues relentlessly with occupation security cabinet of plans to build 19 new settlements which Israeli occupation officials said were intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"The Israeli authorities must repeal all laws policies and practices that perpetuate systemic discrimination against Palestinians based on race religion or ethnic origin" Turk said calling on the Israeli occupation authorities to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory including dismantling all settlements and evacuating all settlers and to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. (end) imk.aai