Amnesty International Report - What Palestinians have to say about it

On 1 February 2022, Amnesty International released a report based on four years worth of research and documentation, acknowledging that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people, under international law. The report builds upon decades of Palestinian activism and work, documenting Israel’s regime of racial domination, cruel control and oppression. Amnesty is joining a long list of organisations charging Israel with the crime of apartheid, including  Palestinian civil society organisations such as Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and other landmarks including Human Rights Watch, UN ESCWA and B’Tselem. 

Here are some of the Palestinian takes on the Amnesty apartheid report findings:

The report, taking into account Palestinians’ lived experiences, acknowledges that the system of apartheid originated with the creation of Israel in 1948, i.e, the Palestinian Nakba, and that it is ongoing to this day:

• The enforcement of the Israeli apartheid regime through its governmental and military institutions are not limited to the OPT. On the contrary, it has no geographic restrictions as it is also imposed on the Palestinian refugees and their descendants by continuously negating their right of return; and on ‘48 Palestinians whose citizenship is conditional to facilitate domination and ensure Jewish supremacy over Palestinians wherever they may be.
• “Since its inception Israel has pursued a policy of erasure of Palestinians from this land to maintain a Jewish majority” in this short video, Salem Barahmeh breaks down the many ways these crimes have been on full display for decades.
• Read these slides to learn more about how Israel imposes its apartheid rule and practices based on who is Jewish or Palestinian.
• Following Agnes Callamard’s comment: “This is my first visit to Israel/Palestine, it has shocked me to my core. Why? It’s not the act of violence, I have seen violence before. It is the cruelty of the system, its sheer banality, and at times absurdity.”
• Mohammad Al Saffin agreed by saying that “spectacular violence makes the news. The quiet cruelty in between (what Western reporters often refer to as 'calm'), is much harder to show because it permeates every detail of our lives.”
• During the Amnesty’s press conference on the report, some reminded that the Israeli occupation forces were committing additional war crimes by demolishing a Palestinian family home in Shufat refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem. 

On how the Israeli system of apartheid, racial domination and control is maintained:

• Israel’s status quo of apartheid is not done independently. Rather, it is emboldened by its international allies through trade of surveillance tech and military equipment, enacting normalization agreements, financing illegal annexation, and supporting the silencing of Palestinian voices through false allegations of terrorism or antisemitism.
• Rep. Rashida Tlaib chimed in by demanding once again that: “US foreign aid should not go to apartheid governments, period”, making implicit reference to the U.S military funding to Israel, amounting 3.8 billion USD a year. 

“Spectacular violence makes the news. The quiet cruelty in between (what Western reporters often refer to as 'calm'), is much harder to show because it permeates every detail of our lives.” - Mohammad Al Saffin 

While many welcomed the analysis of the report, Palestinians highlighted the limitations of the apartheid framework under international law:

• In this article, scholar Yara Hawari, reminds of the shortcomings of the international law framework, which omits the context of settler-colonialism and its ongoing consequences. 
• The discourse on apartheid  risks fixating the Palestinian struggle as one of equality rather than one of decolonial liberation. Scholar Lana Tatour captured this already in 2021, following B'tselem’s report: “By confining ourselves to international law, we risk talking only about racial domination and ignoring colonial domination.”
• The Adalah Justice Project welcomed the report, but raised the question on why Amnesty insists on justifying Israel’s assertion as “Jewish state” instead of choosing to challenge the assertion that settlers have a right to self-determination on stolen land. 

Censorship and recognition of Palestinian voices, civil society, and international solidarity efforts:

• The publication of such report wouldn’t have been possible without the crucial work of Palestinian experts and activists for many years, which came at great personal and professional expense. Journalist Yuman Patel expands more on this in a short thread.
• For decades university students worldwide have been organizing an annual Israeli Apartheid Week as an act of international solidarity to educate on the reality of Palestinians and challenge their institutions on complicity with Israel. In her tweet, Palestinian scholar Mezna Qato credits these students: ”You were railroaded, arrested, expelled, stigmatized, cancelled, and blacklisted. You are the bravest report.”
• Anti-Palestinian racist remarks from the Israeli regime already surfaced prior to the publication of the report, claiming that Amnesty is an anti-Semitic institution, capitalizing, once again, on pro-Palestinian international support to silence Palestinian voices, and deny the Palestinian experience under ongoing oppression and colonization. 

Palestinians have been publicly sharing and documenting their realities living under Israel’s apartheid and settler-colonial regime for decades. As the world turns increasing to reports finally acknowledging Israel’s apartheid regime, Palestinians should remain the central voice and authority documenting the daily torment and oppression under which they live, and which they resist against daily.

Nonetheless, it is crucial that international allies and organizations amplify Palestinians’ lived reality, and to hold Israel accountable and support the Palestinian struggle in bringing it closer to accountability, justice and liberation.