Discrimination against Palestinians by Israeli laws and policies amount to the crime of apartheid, according to a recent report from Human Rights Watch. The 213-page report, released on April 27, accuses Israel of operating a system of apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It concludes that “in certain areas … they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution”.
This is not the first time the term “apartheid” has been applied to the case of Israel and Palestine. Palestinians have described their daily experience in this way since at least the mid-1960s. But the report from the international human rights organisation has brought the term into mainstream public debate.