'The world is starting to believe us': Palestinians react to Amnesty Israel apartheid report

Palestinians from all walks of life have cautiously welcomed a recent report from Amnesty International which accused Israel of committing crimes of apartheid against the Palestinian people, but say its findings must bring about real change.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Ishtayyeh described the 280-page report released Tuesday as “one of the most professional and transparent international reports” on Israel's violations of Palestinian rights, and called it “a victory for the Palestinian people’s just cause and a recognition of apartheid’s victims”.

Ishtayyeh called upon Israel's allies "to end their support to the apartheid state and impose sanctions on it, similar to those that were imposed on the apartheid state in South Africa”.

Our official new report looks at the decades-long suffering of Palestinians under Israel’s rule. We've concluded that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians throughout Israel & the Occupied Palestinian Territories amounts to apartheid.

Read for yourself. https://t.co/ghC8mU8VXH

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) February 1, 2022

The Palestinian foreign affairs ministry said the report "is of great importance in the exposure of [Israel’s] racist practices”.

“The ugly reality of [Israeli] crimes and impunity can no longer be ignored by the international community,” the ministry said.

The Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas said in a statement that Amnesty’s report “is an essential part of the international legal efforts that seek to deliver justice for the Palestinian people”, while the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called upon international bodies "to open an official investigation on Israel’s crime of apartheid… leading to recognition of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of 1948”.

Agnès Callamard, the Secretary-General of @amnesty outlines Israel's system of apartheid it maintains against all Palestinians, across historic Palestine or living as refugees around the world.

Amnesty calls for resolute action to #DismantleApartheid.pic.twitter.com/p1E3cyw7zO

— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) February 1, 2022

The Amnesty report used research conducted by local human rights groups - including Al-Haq, one of six Palestinian civil society groups designated terrorist organisations by Israel last year for their alleged links to the PFLP.

Al-Haq’s Wesam Ahmad told The New Arab that the Amnesty report provided “an additional credible voice that reinforces the consensus of international system on Israel’s apartheid system”.

“Anyone who wants to keep their credibility on the international legal level, needs to recognize the facts that have been documented for so long, and supported by Amnesty’s report,” he said.

“This report adds to legal efforts that need to continue evolving, through the international system, until the international community takes action”.

1. This morning, @amnesty published a report concluding that “Israel has perpetrated the international wrong of apartheid”, building on decades of Palestinian activism, work by @alhaq_org and @AlMezanCenter and recent landmark reports published by @btselem and @hrw.

— Tareq Baconi طارق بقعوني (@TareqBaconi) February 1, 2022

Jamal Jumaa, coordinator for Stop The Wall - the Palestinian popular campaign against Israel’s wall and settlements - told The New Arab that “Amnesty’s report proves that Israel’s apartheid is an international consensus”.

“Israel built its whole narrative on the premise that it is a democracy, hiding the reality, hiding away the reality of what it has been doing to the Palestinian people. That narrative is today falling apart,” he said.

“Amnesty’s report is an immense support is a recognition of years-long efforts by Palestinian civil society and the solidarity movement to expose Israel as an apartheid system”.

2/18
Despite the importance of such reports for global campaigning efforts, and the fact that Amnesty’s report goes further than the previously published reports (incorporating Palestinians in 1948 and the Palestinian refugees part of those subjected to Israel’s apartheid regime)

— Soheir Asaad (@soheirasaad) February 2, 2022

On the ground, Palestinians affected by ongoing or recent campaigns to displace or bomb them asked that the report's findings bring about concrete action.

Nabil El-Kurd, a 78-year old resident of Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood threatened with expulsion from his home, told The New Arab that “Amnesty’s report is good, but it needs to lead to action”.

“We Palestinians have told our story to the world, and the world is beginning to believe us," he said.

Ruba Taleb, a young Palestinian activist, lives in the Bedouin village of Shaqib Al-Salam in the Negev (Naqab) desert, where Palestinians have for weeks been protesting Israel's razing of their land.

"Any new report won’t be of use if impunity continues,” Taleb told The New Arab.

“If Israel has continued these practices for so many years, it’s precisely because the world sees them and does nothing."

This racist violence and impunity is only possible because of the apartheid government of Israel, supported by the US, continues to systematically dehumanize Palestinians. Don’t take my word for it – read the new @amnesty report here: https://t.co/XVO4N4NpaN

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) February 2, 2022

In Gaza, Palestinian journalist Hadeel Al-Gherbawi told The New Arab that the report has come "too late" for many living in the besieged, densely populated enclave.

"Israel’s siege has already killed any life possibilities in Gaza, and its latest two offensives on the Strip crossed all lines in terms of destruction,” she said.

Al-Gherbawi said she was disillusioned with the international community.

"The only support that arrives in Gaza, aside from words, is humanitarian aid that works like morphine shots to make us bear what is unbearable,” she said.

She holds out some hope, however, that the report might help change things.

“The report remains positive overall because it can help pressure the occupation state on the international level, which could lead to some change in the future”.