{"id":27832,"date":"2026-01-08T05:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=27832"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:29:17","slug":"israel-asphyxiating-palestinians-for-apartheid-system-in-west-bank-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=27832","title":{"rendered":"Israel \u2018asphyxiating\u2019 Palestinians for \u2018apartheid system\u2019 in West Bank: UN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Volker Turk\u2019s description of the occupied West Bank\u2019s situation as \u2018apartheid\u2019 marks the first time a United Nations human rights chief has used the term.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Women watch Israeli machinery demolishing a building at Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank [File: Mohammed Torokman\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The United Nations human rights office has called on Israel to \u201cdismantle all\u00a0settlements<\/a>\u201d in the occupied West Bank, saying its \u201coppression and domination\u201d of Palestinians resembles \u201capartheid\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new report on Wednesday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed Israel\u2019s \u201csystemic discrimination\u201d against Palestinians, citing restrictions on movement through checkpoints, and \u201climited access to roads, natural resources, land and basic social facilities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank,\u201d said UN rights chief Volker Turk in a statement. \u201cThis is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While UN-affiliated independent experts have described the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories as \u201capartheid\u201d, Turk\u2019s comments marked the first time a UN rights chief used the term, which was coined during South Africa\u2019s system of racial segregation<\/a> that lasted from 1948 to 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turk said every aspect of life in the occupied West Bank is \u201ccontrolled and curtailed by Israel\u2019s discriminatory laws, policies and practices\u201d, from accessing water to harvesting olives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday\u2019s report called out the Israeli authorities for treating Israeli settlers and Palestinians \u201cunder two distinct bodies of law and policies, resulting in unequal treatment on a range of critical issues\u201d, with \u201clarge-scale confiscation of land and deprivation of access to resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The laws had led to Palestinians being dispossessed of their lands and homes \u201calongside other forms of systemic discrimination, including criminal prosecution in military courts during which their due process and fair trial rights are systematically violated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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