#Watershed moment free#

Despite living under de facto annexation, Palestinians in the West Bank (and East Jerusalem) have no right to vote in Israeli elections and choose the leaders who dictate their everyday lives.Д®ven in the areas of the West Bank under вЂcontrolвЂ™ of the Palestinian Authority, Israel maintains control over the borders and hundreds of checkpoints surrounding those areas. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians are subject to Israeli military laws and orders, and in more than 60% of the West Bank (вЂArea CвЂ™) must receive Israeli permission to build on and farm their land. In occupied East Jerusalem, which was illegally annexed by Israel in 1967, an estimated 350,000 Palestinians are considered вЂњpermanent residentsвЂќ (a status that can be revoked by the Israeli Ministry of Interior), and are subjugated to the laws and rules of the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality, which historically denies the Palestinian population building and construction permits in their own neighborhoods, leading to widespread home demolitions and the resulting sky-high levels of poverty in those communities.

Through a system of various discriminatory laws and practices, Israel has successfully relegated its Palestinian citizens, which it claims to treat as equals, into small crowded enclaves with no room for the growing population, the group says. Since 1948, BвЂ™Tselem pointed out, Israel has promoted the construction of hundreds of new Jewish communities across Israel, while not a single new community for its Palestinian citizens has been built. As demonstrated in the 2018 Nation State Law, however, which declared that only Jews have the right to self-determination, any notion of вЂdemocracy for allвЂ™ was completely shattered. Inside Israel itself, where an estimated 20% of the 9 million Israeli citizens are Palestinians, Israel claims to uphold a democracy with equal rights for all its citizens.

#Watershed moment free#

While Israeli citizens are free to live without restriction (with the exception of Gaza) across Israel and in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinians have been divided and fragmented into separate territories, with various Israeli laws and military orders subjugating each population and a different set of rights for Palestinians in each. вЂњThe terms we have used in recent years to describe the situation вЂ“ such as вЂњprolonged occupationвЂќ or a вЂњone-state realityвЂќ вЂ“ are no longer adequate.вЂќ вЂњWhat happens in the Occupied Territories can no longer be treated as separate from the reality in the entire area under IsraelвЂ™s control,вЂќ BвЂ™Tselem says. Instead, the reality is that there are millions of Palestinians and Israelis living under the control of a single regime, but with vastly unequal rights.Д«ut with the annexation of East Jerusalem, the de facto annexation of the West Bank, and the continued siege on Gaza, the reality is that there is one regime, Israel, вЂњgoverning the entire area and the people living in it, based on a single organizing principleвЂќ of Jewish supremacy. In their new position paper, BвЂ™Tselem challenges the commonly held perception that there are two regimes operating side by side - one democracy for all Israeli citizens in Israel, and one вЂњtemporaryвЂќ occupation in the oPt, the status of which is to be settled in peace talks. This is a situation that BвЂ™Tselem says can only be described as вЂapartheidвЂ™ - a term that Palestinian citizens, activists, and rights groups have been using for years now to describe their reality, and one that Israel and its supporters vehemently oppose. The current reality in Israel and the oPt necessitates a change in position and approach, the group says, due to the fact that вЂњin the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the Israeli regime implements laws, practices and state violence designed to cement the supremacy of one group вЂ“ Jews вЂ“ over another вЂ“ Palestinians.вЂќ Israeli human rights group BвЂ™Tselem has labeled Israel as an вЂapartheid regimeвЂ™ for the first time in the groupвЂ™s 30 year history of documenting human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.