SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A Palestinain looks through a gap between the blocks of Israel's controversial barrier that is still under construction January 9, 2004 in the Palestinian neighborhood of Abu Dis in the West Bank. (Photo: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
At UN Hearing, South African Delegate Decries Israel as World's Last Functioning "Apartheid State"
"We remain deeply concerned at the denial of the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people," said delegate at a hearing in Geneva, "in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed."
Jan 23, 2018
During a United Nations hearing on its human rights record in Geneva on Tuesday, the Israeli government was accused of ongoing abuses and anti-democratic policies as it was called out as the world's last functioning "apartheid state" by a delegate from South Africa--a nation with a unique vantage from which to judge.
"Israel is the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state," the South African delegate said to UN members during the Human Rights Council hearing at the Palais du Nations in Geneva. "We remain deeply concerned at the denial of the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people, in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed."
According to Al-Jazeera, the delegate who made the remarks was "echoing the recommendations of several member states that called, above all, for an end of the 50-year-long occupation of Palestinian territory."
In its reporting, the Middle East Monitor cited a pair of tweets from Human Rights Watch staff, Omar Shakir and John Fisher, both of whom were monitoring the hearing:
While Israel continues to accuse the HRC of bias and denies responsibility for the crimes that correspond to the illegal occcupation of the Palestinian Territories, the independent review by Human Rights Watch found that the Israeli government continues a pattern of systemic human rights violations--many of which have recurred consistently over the past 50 years of the occupation and some that have intensified significantly in recent years.
According to HRW's review, those violations include: (1) unlawful killings and war crimes without accountability; (2) illegal settlements and institutional discrimination; (3) forced displacement; (4) prolonged closure of Gaza and unjustified movement restrictions in the West Bank; and (5) abusive detention.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
During a United Nations hearing on its human rights record in Geneva on Tuesday, the Israeli government was accused of ongoing abuses and anti-democratic policies as it was called out as the world's last functioning "apartheid state" by a delegate from South Africa--a nation with a unique vantage from which to judge.
"Israel is the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state," the South African delegate said to UN members during the Human Rights Council hearing at the Palais du Nations in Geneva. "We remain deeply concerned at the denial of the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people, in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed."
According to Al-Jazeera, the delegate who made the remarks was "echoing the recommendations of several member states that called, above all, for an end of the 50-year-long occupation of Palestinian territory."
In its reporting, the Middle East Monitor cited a pair of tweets from Human Rights Watch staff, Omar Shakir and John Fisher, both of whom were monitoring the hearing:
While Israel continues to accuse the HRC of bias and denies responsibility for the crimes that correspond to the illegal occcupation of the Palestinian Territories, the independent review by Human Rights Watch found that the Israeli government continues a pattern of systemic human rights violations--many of which have recurred consistently over the past 50 years of the occupation and some that have intensified significantly in recent years.
According to HRW's review, those violations include: (1) unlawful killings and war crimes without accountability; (2) illegal settlements and institutional discrimination; (3) forced displacement; (4) prolonged closure of Gaza and unjustified movement restrictions in the West Bank; and (5) abusive detention.
During a United Nations hearing on its human rights record in Geneva on Tuesday, the Israeli government was accused of ongoing abuses and anti-democratic policies as it was called out as the world's last functioning "apartheid state" by a delegate from South Africa--a nation with a unique vantage from which to judge.
"Israel is the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state," the South African delegate said to UN members during the Human Rights Council hearing at the Palais du Nations in Geneva. "We remain deeply concerned at the denial of the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people, in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed."
According to Al-Jazeera, the delegate who made the remarks was "echoing the recommendations of several member states that called, above all, for an end of the 50-year-long occupation of Palestinian territory."
In its reporting, the Middle East Monitor cited a pair of tweets from Human Rights Watch staff, Omar Shakir and John Fisher, both of whom were monitoring the hearing:
While Israel continues to accuse the HRC of bias and denies responsibility for the crimes that correspond to the illegal occcupation of the Palestinian Territories, the independent review by Human Rights Watch found that the Israeli government continues a pattern of systemic human rights violations--many of which have recurred consistently over the past 50 years of the occupation and some that have intensified significantly in recent years.
According to HRW's review, those violations include: (1) unlawful killings and war crimes without accountability; (2) illegal settlements and institutional discrimination; (3) forced displacement; (4) prolonged closure of Gaza and unjustified movement restrictions in the West Bank; and (5) abusive detention.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.