The Anti-Apartheid Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization held a workshop on “The Apartheid System in Israeli Laws and Legislation”, with the participation of a number of figures specialized in Israeli apartheid.
The workshop was attended by a number of members of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, representatives of factions, forces, and departments of the Palestine Liberation Organization, activists, various academic and media sectors, and legal institutions.
The workshop, which was moderated by lawyer Ibrahim Dhouib, opened with the Palestinian national anthem and a minute of silence for the souls of the martyrs of the Palestinian people.
After welcoming the participants and attendees, Professor Ibrahim Dhouib presented an overview of the work and activity of the Anti-Apartheid Department, and the campaign it organizes in cooperation with partners, to hold forums and conferences at the Arab and European levels, and in Latin America. In preparation for the international conference against Israeli apartheid; It is scheduled to be held in the Republic of South Africa at the beginning of 2024.
The General Director of the Adalah Center, and a lecturer in law faculties at universities in the occupied interior, Dr. Hassan Jabareen, spoke about the life of Palestinians in the 1948 territories, and that it should be the starting point for analyzing Israeli apartheid, because the interior is the site of the civil struggle against racial discrimination between... Citizens, despite being under one legal umbrella.
The Director General of the Adalah Center pointed out that the apartheid practiced by Israel is real apartheid, and that the West Bank and Gaza live in an apartheid reality, to a greater extent than South Africa did at the time.
Jabareen explained that the Israeli apartheid regime denies the principle of equal citizenship, and instead promotes two different categories of citizenship, although military occupation is the main feature of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, but the Palestinians do not see that the struggle for equal rights between themselves and the settlers is The goal of their struggle is to remove the occupation and settlement, and to extract the right to self-determination by establishing an independent state.
The Director General of the Adalah Center explained that the participation of Palestinians in the occupied territories in the Israeli elections and the presence of members in the Israeli Knesset and the judiciary do not negate the reality of Israeli apartheid, because decisions in the Israeli legislative and judicial authorities are made only by Jewish citizens.
For his part, the specialist in international humanitarian law, Professor Rizq Shuqair, spoke about the military orders of the Israeli occupier since 1967, explaining their objectives and the purpose of issuing them, their impact on various aspects of the life of the Palestinian people, their change in the existing legal situation, and the establishment of an integrated settlement structure. It grows at the expense of Palestinian society.
Rizq Shuqair explained that the main goal of the military orders is to achieve the actual annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory, and to tighten the grip of the occupation authorities over the Palestinians and their lives. He stressed that the number of military orders until the end of the year 2021 reached 1,970 orders, in addition to hundreds of military systems, instructions and publications, all of which are located in 43 volumes, totaling 18,600 pages.
Shuqair stated that the occupation authorities benefited from the common peaceful atmosphere, starting with the Oslo Accords in 1993, in order to perpetuate their occupation and acquisition of the land, and to establish and expand more settlements.
The specialist in international and humanitarian law continued that the nature and characteristics of the Israeli occupation is a long-term warlike, settler-colonial occupation of a racist nature, requiring the international community and the states parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to assume their legal responsibilities by taking the necessary measures to force the existing state. The occupation must comply with the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law and the decisions of the international community, represented by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and other relevant international organizations.
The writer and specialist in Israeli affairs, Amir Makhoul, commented on the symposium, saying that the Palestinians must be dealt with as a single unit in all their locations, because the system of control is the same, and dispersion is part of the occupation’s strategy, adding that the concept of “apartheid” carries more than one meaning, depending on the situation, stressing On the importance of joint collective thinking in clarifying the concept of “apartheid” in Palestine.
Makhoul said that the "Israeli Supreme Court" has never stood in the face of settlements and the wall, pointing out that the Israeli regime is racist enough, so the settlement system is repeating itself, as it has the same goals and objectives, all of which stem from the concept of Judaization.
The specialist in Israeli affairs added that the occupation aims to destroy the Palestinian entity, including the diaspora, and to rush the annexation, legalize settlements, and desecrate the holy places.
He stressed that the current Israeli reality constitutes power over the Palestinians, but it is an opportunity for liberation and strategic thinking to get rid of the occupation, by building a structure of popular political action. It monitors the policies, laws, practices and statements of the occupation.
Makhoul touched on the importance and role of the Anti-Apartheid Department in the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the systematic efforts and movements it is making in this direction. At the national, Arab and international levels, in addition to the role it plays in the unity of the Palestinian people’s movement.
The audience participated in many important interventions, as member of the Executive Committee of the Liberation Organization, Adnan Al-Husseini, spoke about the conditions of Jerusalem and the challenges that the Palestinian people are facing. Writer Omar Al-Ghoul also spoke about the replacement settlement nature of the Zionist project, and the importance of the unity of our people and their strength in defeating it.
Several important interventions were also presented, from Professors Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, Ammar Badr, and Archimandrite Abdullah July, who warned against Israeli attacks on Islamic and Christian sanctities, and the occupation’s attempt to dominate them
Source: Maan News Agency