UN Accuses “Israel” of Apartheid in West Bank

By Staff, Agencies

The United Nations has condemned “Israel” for operating an apartheid system in the occupied West Bank, citing decades of institutionalized discrimination and segregation against Palestinians that have sharply intensified in recent years, according to a report published Wednesday by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation, that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before,” the report said, concluding that conditions across the occupied Palestinian territories have “drastically deteriorated” since December 2022 due to systematic discrimination.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Palestinians face pervasive restrictions affecting nearly every aspect of daily life, including access to water, healthcare, education, family visits, and agriculture. He described the situation as a “systematic asphyxiation” of Palestinian rights.

This marks the first time a sitting UN human rights chief has explicitly applied the term “apartheid” to "Israeli" policies in the occupied territories, despite similar findings by independent UN-affiliated experts in previous years.

The report found that "Israeli" authorities enforce dual legal systems in the West Bank: civil law for "Israeli" settlers and military law for Palestinians, resulting in entrenched inequality in freedom of movement, access to resources, and legal protections.

It documented land confiscation, dispossession, denial of natural resources, and the routine prosecution of Palestinians in military courts where due process is frequently violated.

The OHCHR also warned that discrimination is compounded by escalating settler violence, often carried out with the acquiescence or direct involvement of "Israeli" occupation forces.

More than 500,000 "Israeli" settlers live in the West Bank, which has been under "Israeli" occupation since 1967 and is home to around three million Palestinians.

Since January 2017, the report recorded over 1,500 Palestinian killings by occupation forces and settlers, with only 112 investigations opened and one conviction issued by "Israeli" authorities.