The UN human rights office has issued a report detailing what it calls Israel's 'systemic discrimination' against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and said the situation has 'drastically deteriorated' over the past three years.
Israeli laws, policies, and practices were having an 'asphyxiating impact' on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians and violated an international convention against racial discrimination, the report states.
'This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before,' High Commissioner Volker Türk warned.
Israel dismissed the accusations as 'absurd and distorted'.
The Israeli mission in Geneva criticized the UN human rights office for ignoring fundamental realities and accused it of politically motivated reporting aimed at vilifying Israel.
A total of about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews had been established since the 1967 occupation of West Bank and East Jerusalem, despite being deemed illegal under international law.
The report suggests a deliberate policy of racial segregation, indicating that the differential treatment of Israeli settlers and Palestinians shows intent to maintain oppression of Palestinians.
This is the first time a UN human rights chief has explicitly compared Israeli policies in the West Bank to apartheid, reflecting a long-standing concern for the UN that has worsened significantly since the escalation of violence post-October 2023. Every aspect of Palestinian life is attributed to a system of laws leading to discrimination, land confiscation, and a lack of due process.
'Every negative trend documented in the report has not only continued but accelerated,' Türk emphasized, calling for immediate attention to the ongoing crisis affecting Palestinians.
