Liv Tørres and Trond Bakkevig fought against the apartheid regime in South Africa, which discriminated against blacks. A system so racist that the UN created the Apartheid Convention. Now the two see similarities with the oppression in Israel and Palestine. – It is discrimination based on ethnicity, says Tørres. – Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians resembles apartheid, and in some cases is identical to apartheid, says Bakkevig. The Norwegian government, on the other hand, will not use the term to describe Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Israel has previously rejected all accusations that it practices apartheid, according to the Reuters news agency. The Israeli embassy has submitted the criticism from Tørres and Bakkevig. They answer that “repeating a lie does not make it true” and refer to an Instagram video Read more from the answer later in the article. – Can just go home and go to bed When the white Boers distributed ducks in South Africa, they gave themselves the most fertile areas. Land not suitable for food production was given to the dark-skinned South Africans. The Palestinians are subjected to this same injustice by the state of Israel – only worse, Tørres believes. Liv Tørres Lived in South Africa in the period 1987–2008. Was general secretary of Norwegian People’s Aid between 2011 and 2015. Today head of the International Department at LO. – The old apartheid system could just go home and go to bed, she believes. – Their distribution of land to blacks was generous compared to the areas the Palestinians are being pushed into now in Israel. The road that connects Jerusalem to Hebron together, the Palestinians are not allowed to use. Segregation is a characteristic that is pointed out in the UN Convention. Photo: Thomas Coax / AFP Israel has 750,000 residents in the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, figures from the UN show. The UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the International Federation of the Red Cross and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have concluded in several resolutions and in a judgment that the settlements are contrary to international law. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says the settlements are a war crime. Israel disagrees with the assessment. Settlers as soldiers Since Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October, the violence the illegal settlers perpetrate against the Palestinians has increased. At the same time, the independent rights organizations have been told to leave the areas. – The absence of international observers helps to increase the level of violence. All this is ultimately Israel’s responsibility, says Tørres to news. Correspondent Åse Marit Befring and photographer Gunnar Bratthammer are tried to be stopped by a uniformed and armed settler when they visited the West Bank earlier. Many of the settlers have hoarded weapons. Several also wear full military uniform. The settler Itamar Ben-Gvir sits in the government and leads the right-wing radical party Jødisk Makt. He himself distributed 10,000 weapons to civilian Israelis in the occupied West Bank. – Palestinians have fewer rights Trond Bakkevig remembers South Africa in the 1980s. Signs that said “for whites only”, forced relocation of population groups, and restrictions on blacks’ political rights. Provost Trond Bakkevig Provost in Vestre Aker prosti (2000–2018) Has received a number of awards for his work in establishing dialogue in the Middle East. Now he is reticent about the concept of apartheid. He is afraid that it will lead to a discussion about the concept rather than the reality: – The reality is that the Palestinians have fewer rights, he emphasizes. Bakkevig highlights some examples, such as that Palestinians with Israeli citizenship must accept that they live in a state for Jews. – You have the Citizenship Act from 2018. There it was defined that Israel should be a Jewish state, which gave specific rights to Jews. Israeli laws thus grant specific rights to Jews. The Law of Return The Law (Law of Return, 1950) gives every Jew in the world the right to settle in Israel and the illegally occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. After annexing East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel introduced a law on legal and administrative matters (The Legal and Administrative Matters Law, 1970). The law allows Jewish families to reclaim lost property they allegedly owned in East Jerusalem. The Absentee Property Law of 1950 (The Absentee Property Law) prevents Palestinians who left, were forced to flee or were deported during the 1948 war from returning to their homes .These Palestinians left behind property, where the legislation serves as the legal basis for transferring such property to the State of Israel. This is how the “absent” are defined. The definition of who is considered “absent” is broad. In principle, the law (The Absentee Property Law) applies to those who traveled or fled from 29 November 1947 to one of eight Arab countries listed in the law, which is still in force. It also applies to those who only fled their home for a short period, in the period 29 November 1947 and 1 September 1948, to areas Israel defined as hostile. The Land Act The Land Acquisition Law (Land Acquisition Law, 1960) is used as a basis for transferring “uninhabited” properties, now owned by the state, to also illegal settlers or political groups. The state can “develop, supplement, improve, merge, cultivate and reclaim property”, or “sell or otherwise dispose of, rent out, grant leases and mortgage property” – Land Law, 1960. Israel’s Citizenship Law “The right to national self-determination in the state Israel is unique to the Jewish people,” states Israel’s Nationality Law § 1(c) from 2018. It enshrines principles already recognized in common law that reflect the Jewish character of the State of Israel. The Law on Citizenship and Access to Israel Law (The Nationality and Entry into Israel Law, 2003) denies, among other things, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, married to citizens of Israel, from obtaining residency or citizenship status. The law forces those with Israeli citizenship who wish to live with their spouses to leave the country, or live away from their spouses and families. The Admissions Committee Law As statutory bodies, the admissions committees select who is allowed to rent or buy homes in Israel and in the Israeli illegal settlements on The West Bank and in East Jerusalem. They follow the admissions committee’s law (Admissions Committees Law, 2011). The law, revised in 2023, allows the body to opt out of applicants who are considered to be “unsuitable for the social life of the community … or the social and cultural life of the city. »The Nakba law gave the finance minister the power to strip state funds from any institution or person that marks “Israel’s Independence Day or the day the state was established as a day of mourning,” or that denies Israel’s existence as a “Jewish and democratic state.” The law came into force in 2011 Bakkevig is afraid Israel is heading towards a legislation like the one South Africa had. Among other things, he points out that there are ministers who he believes are “obviously racist” in the current government. One of the ministers has been convicted of supporting a terrorist organisation. Trond Bakkevig was awarded the Gunnar Sønsteby Memorial Prize in 2016 for his work with interreligious dialogue, including in the Middle East. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Bakkevig tried for 20 years to facilitate talks between Israelis and Palestinians. – They crash simply because there is an occupation. There are no signs that Israel will end that occupation, says the priest. The Israeli embassy has submitted all the criticism from Tørres and Bakkevig. In an email they write that “repeating a lie does not make it true” and refer to an Instagram video. The video, produced by influencer and author Samantha Ettus, shows successful Arabs in Israel. Ettus claims in the video that the people disagree that there is systematic racial discrimination in Israel. Netanyahu adviser admits discrimination Gerard Folkvord is a political adviser in the human rights group Amnesty International Norway. Photo: Frida Marie Grande / Photographer: Frida Marie Grande In a new report, Amnesty writes that Israel enforces an apartheid regime against the Palestinians. – All Palestinians are subjected to discrimination, oppression and partly very gross human rights violations, in order to obtain benefits for Jewish Israelis, says Gerald Folkvord. He is a political advisor in the human rights organisation. Folkvord believes that Israel has pursued a racial policy for a long time. The Israeli embassy has so far not responded to news’s repeated inquiries about Amnesty’s report. news’s question to the Israeli embassy: Does Israel believe that basic human rights must be respected in the West Bank? How can human rights be respected if there is extensive evidence of torture and violence against prisoners? Is Israel doing anything to minimize the harm and violence committed against Palestinians in the West Bank by private Israeli citizens? Is it an Israeli policy to favor administrative detention over regular legal arrests? Four Palestinian citizens have died in Israeli detention since the October 7 terrorist attack, Israeli authorities have confirmed. What is the cause of their death? Is there any procedure for investigating the allegations made in this report? Are any service members or security forces currently under investigation? How can you dispute the evidence referenced in this report? Amnesty makes the claim that Israel enforces an apartheid system against Palestinians. What is your comment on this? Mark Regev, special adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has previously admitted to news that Israel treats Palestinians differently in the West Bank. He acknowledges that Palestinians in the West Bank and Israelis are not equal before the law. – We have one law that applies to our citizens, while Palestinians are subject to military law. Regev believes Israel has no other choice but to have such discriminatory treatment. – If we create a joint piece of legislation, it will be called annexation. The international community and most Israelis are against it. Therefore, we have no alternative but to have two sets of laws. Amnesty, Save the Children, Red Cross and Btselem have documented the discrimination over many years. The living conditions of the Palestinians are the “dictionary definition” of genocide and apartheid, said Craig Mokhiber. Until recently, he headed the New York office of the UN human rights body. Mokhiber chose to resign from his position on 28 October when he felt that the UN system was “paralyzed in the face of an ongoing genocide”. Other prominent people have also opined that Israel enforces an apartheid regime. Among them are South Africa’s former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter, and former head of Israeli intelligence, Tamir Pardo. “A territory where two people are sentenced under two different legal systems is an apartheid state,” Pardo told Reuters. Barth Eide: – The judiciary’s task to decide Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide did not want to be interviewed by news about the apartheid comparison. He writes via his communications manager at the Foreign Ministry, Tuva Bogsnes, the following: – Norway emphasizes in all relevant forums that Israel is obliged under international law to safeguard the rights of all population groups in Israel and in occupied Palestinian territories. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news The Prime Minister will not take a position on the term “apartheid” when he refers to Israel. He believes it is a legal issue. – It is primarily the judiciary’s task to determine whether such a serious international crime has taken place, Eide believes. Norway will not make a decision until after there is a verdict, he says. At the same time, Norway has on several occasions taken a stand on legal issues, without a court decision. The Støre government has said, among other things, that the Russians are committing war crimes in Ukraine. The government has concluded that Hamas’ terrorist attack on 7 October was in breach of international law. They have also established that Israel violates humanitarian law. – The war between Israel and Hamas, and the dramatically worsening situation for Palestinians in the West Bank, gives cause for strong concern about the Palestinians’ opportunity for self-determination, rights and democracy, he concludes.
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Fought against apartheid – now they see strong similarities with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
