Source: Press TV, 06-12-2008
The planned path of "Israel's" 'apartheid wall' will carve off 14 percent of the West Bank.
A rights group says "Israel's" bias in favor of Zionist settlers in the West Bank is a reminiscent of South Africa's apartheid system.
The "Israeli" human rights group known as the Association for Civil Rights in "Israel" on Saturday said Zionist settlements in the Palestinian territory "have created a situation of institutionalized discrimination and segregation."
"The discrimination in services, budgets and access to natural resources between the two groups in the same territory constitutes a stark violation of the principle of equality, which (is reminiscent) in many and increasing ways (of) the apartheid regime that was applied in South Africa," a report from the group read.
The report which has been published ahead of Wednesday's 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, notes that around 2.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank outside annexed Arab East Jerusalem (al-Quds) are subject to military law and administration.
The 250,000 settlers, however, are treated under "Israeli" civilian law.
'Jewish' settlers use a modern and developed road system, while Palestinians are forced to use "winding and dangerous roads," the report said.
"Israel" has designated some of the roads in the West Bank for primary or exclusive use of the 'Jewish' settlers.
Palestinians are forbidden to use or are restricted in their use of more than 300 kilometers of roads in the West Bank while "Israelis" are free to use these roads with no restriction whatsoever.
Citing UN figures, the group says 65 percent of roads leading to the 18 most populous Palestinian West Bank towns are blocked or controlled by military checkpoints.
"The travel restrictions hamper the transportation of sick people and medical staff to hospitals. There is a shortage in medicine and medical supplies," the report said.
The right group adds that the "Israeli" system is a sharp reminder of the South African system in which "the criteria was racially based unlike the ethnic-national criteria applied in the territories."
The report also slams the "Israeli"-imposed on the Gaza Strip, which has left more than 1.5 million residents of the impoverished region without basic supplies, including food and medicine.
"The blockade policy has almost completely destroyed the industry. Unemployment and poverty are surging... The blockade caused the collapse of local authorities that are struggling to provide residents basic services such as water, sewage and sanitation," says the report.