During the month-long 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council (28 February – 01 April 2022), Al-Haq focused its efforts to highlight Israel’s multi-layered regime of institutionalized racial oppression and domination over the Palestinian people as a whole, by drafting and submitting a total of four written statements, delivering six oral statements, and endorsing three written statements and ten oral statements delivered by partner organizations, under several agenda items. This press release focuses on Al-Haq’s efforts under agenda Item 7 on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories, and agenda Item 9 on racism, racial discrimination, and related forms of intolerance.
Written Statements under Item 7: Arbitrary Detention, Grave Human Rights Violations in Gaza, Surging Israeli Settler Violence, and Calls to Recognize and Condemn Israeli Apartheid
Prior to the Council’s convening, Al-Haq and partner organizations, submitted a written statement under Item 7, titled “Israel’s Arbitrary Detention Policy: Increased Administrative Detention and Mass Arrests against Palestinians,” addressing Israel’s arbitrary detention policy as means to silence Palestinian human rights defenders, political activists, students and children, and to maintain its apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole.
More specifically, the statement highlighted Israeli Occupation Forces storming on 10 January 2022 of Birzeit University and shooting live ammunition at Palestinian students; the boycotting of Israeli military courts at all levels by Palestinian administrative detainees as of 1 January 2022, under the campaign ‘Our Decision is Freedom… No to Administrative Detention’; and Israeli Prison Services’ (IPS) deliberate medical negligence policy against Palestinian prisoners and detainees amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, the statement called on the Council and Member States to urge Israel to end its arbitrary administrative detention policy; to immediately release Amal Nakhleh, Bashir Khairi, along with all vulnerable Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli prisons and ensure their safety, particularly those who are more susceptible to COVID-19. Additionally, the statement called for recognizing discriminatory policies of arbitrary mass arrests and widespread administrative detention as part of Israel’s apartheid regime.
Read the full joint written statement here.
The statement was endorsed by Palestinian NGOs Network, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, DCI - Defense for Children International – Palestine, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, Aldameer Association for Human Rights, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, Hurryyat - Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, The Independent Commission for Human Rights (Ombudsman Office), Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, Community Action Center/Al-Quds University Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Habitat International Coalition, Human Rights & Democratic Participation Center “SHAMS”, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling.
Additionally, Al-Haq joined three written statements covering a range of issues. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights submitted a statement titled “Continuing Daily Violence and Denial of Rights in the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory” addressing the roots causes of Israel’s widespread and systematic violence against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip enduring a never-ending Nakba, a 54-year-old occupation and a 14-year-old blockade and closure, imposed with impunity, and highlighting the most recent Israeli violations of Palestinians’ rights, including their right to life, permanent sovereignty over natural wealth and resources, adequate standard of living, water and health care continuously jeopardized by Israel’s arbitrary and discriminatory permit regime. Importantly, the statement reported on the civilian casualties and damage to private and public properties inflicted during the May 2021 Israeli military offensive against Gaza, based on the statistical report “May 2021 Assault on Gaza in Numbers”.
Al-Haq also joined the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH)’s statement covering surging Israeli settler colonial violence reinforced amid institutionalized impunity and international inaction, and calling on the Council and member states to recognize that this is part of Israel’s apartheid regime and coercive environment; to put an end to Israel’s impunity and hold it accountable for its persistent international crimes, including those of settlement building and expansion; and cooperate with the International Criminal Court and the UNHRC’s ongoing Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
Moreover, Al-Haq joined others’ calls to recognize and condemn Israeli apartheid imposed over the Palestinian people as a whole in a statement submitted by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), stressing the need to address the fundamental root causes, including Zionist settler colonialism, population transfer and apartheid, in order to put an end to decades of crimes committed against the Palestinian people. The statement explained how Israel established and maintains its apartheid regime, from pre-1948 through the Zionist movement until today. It further called on the Member States to ratify the Apartheid Convention, and for those who are already parties to the Convention, to adhere to their obligations under the Convention; to support the newly established CoI and ensure it has sufficient resources to carry out its mandate; to expand the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 to include the Palestinian people on both side of the Green Line and refugees denied the right to return; and to call for the reconstitution of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid and the UN Centre against Apartheid.
Read the full written statement titled “Joint civil society call to recognize and condemn apartheid over the Palestinian people as a whole” here.
Oral Statements under Item 7: the Special Rapporteur’s Recognition of Israeli Apartheid and Israel’s Family Separation Policy
On 25 March 2022, Al-Haq, on behalf of partner organizations, delivered an oral statement under the general debate on Item 7 held just after the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), during which Professor Michael Lynk presented his report concluding that Israel is imposing an apartheid regime over Palestinians in the OPT. The statement welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s recognition and reiterated that Israel has established and maintained apartheid against the Palestinian people as a whole regardless of their geographic location, not only in the OPT.
The oral statement read as follows:
49th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
General Debate on Item 7
Joint Oral Intervention
Speaker: Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
NGO in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
Date: 25 March 2022
Civil Society Organizations Welcome Special Rapporteur on the OPT’s Recognition of Israeli Apartheid and Call for its Dismantlement
Mr. President,
Yesterday, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 joined the voices of many recognizing that Israel has established an apartheid system over Palestinians. Although confined to the geographic limits of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur recommended the international community to ‘accept and adopt the findings by Palestinian, Israeli and intentional human rights organizations that apartheid is being practiced by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.’
This important recognition is critical given the ongoing systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian people with institutionalized impunity, and amidst unprecedented shrinking space against civil society organizations.
For many years now, we have been reiterating that Israel has established and maintained apartheid against the Palestinian people as a whole regardless of their geographic location, including Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, Gaza, inside the Green Line, and Palestinian refugees and exiles denied their right to return.
It is important to understand that apartheid is only a tool in the hands of the Israeli government (much like occupation) to realize its ultimate goal – Zionist settler-colonialism, as the root cause and driving force behind the expansion and continuation of apartheid, conducted through the colonization of the land and continuous displacement, dispossession, domination and systematic fragmentation of the Palestinian people, to maintain Jewish majority.
The facts on the ground have been pointing to apartheid for decades; Israeli discriminatory laws, policies and practices, such as the reintroduction of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law which denies Palestinian families’ unification, the prolonged and illegal occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory, which, in the words of the Special Rapporteur, “has become indistinguishable from annexation,” the medieval blockade and closure of Gaza, summarize the ongoing Nakba Palestinians have been enduring, denying their right to return and to self-determination.
These days, we see that world leaders do not lack the political will needed to hold those who commit crimes accountable. The same will should be directed to recognize and end Israel’s apartheid regime, and hold Israel accountable.
For the video statement, please see here.
The statement was endorsed by the following organizations: Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Defense for Children International – Palestine, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, The Civic Coalition for Palestinians rights in Jerusalem, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Palestinian NGOs Network, The Community Action Center / Al Quds University, Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights – Hurryyat, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, Aldameer Association for Human Rights, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, The Independent Commission for Human Rights, Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.
Al-Haq also joined the CIHRS’ oral statement delivered during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the OPT, welcoming his report, and confirming that Israel’s apartheid is imposed over the Palestinian people regardless of their geographic location, including Palestinian refugees denied their right of return to their homes, lands, and properties. The statement called on the Council and Member States to adopt effective measures, including sanctions, to end Israeli apartheid.
For the video statement, please see here at 01:18:54.
Finally, under Item 7, Al-Haq joined the oral statement delivered by the CIHRS and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center covering Israel’s stringent restrictions on Palestinian family unification following its re-enactment of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on 10 March 2022, as means to maintain the fragmentation of the Palestinian people and Israel’s apartheid regime.
For the video statement, please see here at 50:38.
High-Level Side Event in Parallel to the UN HRC Item 7 on Israeli Apartheid
On 22 March 2022, Al-Haq, represented by its General Director Shawan Jabarin, participated in a side event held by 23 civil society organizations and the missions of Malaysia, Namibia, Pakistan, Palestine, and South Africa on ‘examining the applicability and implications of the apartheid framework to Israel’s repressive rule over the Palestinian people.’ Attended in person by over forty representatives of states, OHCHR, and civil society, the event included Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk’s presentation of his latest report finding that Israel is imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians in the OPT. Alongside representatives from CIHRS, Al Mezan, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. Shawan Jabarin explained the historic background that led to Israel’s apartheid regime, based on Zionist settler colonialism, as one of the root causes of the ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian people’s rights, including their inalienable rights to self-determination and return. Additionally, Jabarin elaborated on Israel’s policy of fragmenting of the Palestinians people into separate geographic, legal, and administrative categories as a central strategy to maintain Israel’s control and apartheid regime.
Written Statements under Item 9: On Silencing Opposition and Continued Displacement and Dispossession of Palestinians
On 7 February 2022, Al-Haq submitted two written statements under agenda Item 9. One statement titled “From Sheikh Jarrah to al-Naqab: Ongoing Israeli Dispossession and Displacement” focused on Israel’s discriminatory laws aimed to dispossess and displace Palestinians in Jerusalem through forced evictions and demolitions, highlighting the case of Al-Salhiyeh family whose houses were demolished under the pretext of land zoned for ‘public purposes’, as well as Palestinian Bedouin communities in al-Naqab facing mass forced displacement as a result of Israel’s discriminatory planning and zoning laws, declaring large parts of Palestinian towns and villages for “agricultural” use or as “green” areas, such as those of al-Atrash tribe in the Bedouin village of Sa’wa enduring ‘afforestation’ efforts by the Jewish National Fund. The statement called on the Council and Member States to recognize the discriminatory laws of dispossession and displacement as part of Israel’s apartheid regime imposed on the Palestinian people as a whole, and to urge Israel to cease applying its domestic law to occupied Jerusalem, and revoke eviction orders issued and cease ongoing legal proceedings.
The second statement addressed “Israel’s Escalated Efforts to Silence Opposition to its Apartheid” through various inhumane acts, including systematic persecution of Palestinian civil society organizations and human rights defenders, which manifested in the latest Israeli outlawing of six leading Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations based on ‘secret evidence,’ as well as the branding of any individual or organization that criticizes Israel as anti-Sematic. This statement came in light of a recent alarming statement by few UN experts declaring that ‘Zionism, the self-determination movement of the Jewish people’ cannot be regarded as racist, and encouraging the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which lists criticism of Israel as a racist endeavor, and a manifestation of anti-Semitism. Moreover, the statement drew attention to a growing practice in the HRC preventing organizations from using the term ‘apartheid regime’ in its legal sense, claiming that it is incompatible with UN standards when directly referring to UN Member States. The statement also expressed concern over the budgetary cuts of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Palestine, which will limit the commission’s capacity to conduct high level investigations, and weaken its mandate.
Al-Haq’s Oral Statement under the General Debate on Item 9: Israel’s Efforts to Silence Criticism to its Apartheid and Violations of International Law
On 28 March 2022, Al-Haq delivered an oral statement under the General Debate on item 9 of the HRC's agenda, covering Israel’s misuse of ‘anti-Semitism’ to silence criticism to its apartheid regime and violations of international law, including through the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which lists criticism of the State of Israel as a manifestation of anti-Semitism.
The oral statement read as follows:
49th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
General Debate on Item 9
Joint Oral Intervention
Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
NGO in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
Date: 25 March 2022
Israel’s Efforts to Silence Criticism to its Apartheid and Violations of International Law
Mr. President,
Israel has been applying various laws, and policies, to suppress any criticism to its apartheid, including the promotion of Zionism as ‘the self-determination movement of the Jewish people’, branding activists and organizations recognizing its apartheid regime as anti-Semitic, and calling for adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which lists criticism of the State of Israel as a manifestation of anti-Semitism.
Alarmingly, some UN experts have picked up this rhetoric, encouraged the adoption of the IHRA definition, and recognized that Zionism is ‘the self-determination movement of the Jewish people’ and that it cannot be regarded as racist.
The UN experts’ statement wrongly assumes that the state of Israel in its current reality embodies the self-determination of all Jews, is a dangerous disregard of the movement’s settler colonial and racist ideological foundations, whose implementation in practice has displaced the majority of the Palestinian people, and overlooks that the Israeli violations are an embodiment of the Zionist movement.
Mr. President, no right to self-determination should suppress another people’s right to self-determination. Palestinians have always emphasized that their opposition seeks to dismantle the ongoing Israeli colonization, apartheid, and occupation, in pursuit of their right to self-determination. Rightful resistance to anti-Semitism should not stop legitimate criticism and calls of accountability for Israel. We call on member states not to adopt the IHRA definition, and to recognize Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid as the root cause of current human rights violations.
For the video statement, please see here.
The statement was endorsed by the following organizations: The Palestinian Initiative for Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, DCI - Defense for Children International – Palestine , Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, Aldameer Association for Human Rights, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, Hurryyat - Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, The Independent Commission for Human Rights, Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, Habitat International Coalition.