UN report hits Israel 'apartheid' (REPOST)

UN report hits Israel 'apartheid'
2/24/2007 7:00:00 AM GMT

An independent report commissioned by the United Nations attacked
Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, likening
it to apartheid South Africa.

The report by UN's Special Rapporteur, John Dugard, said Israel's laws
and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories "certainly
resemble aspects of apartheid."

The UN's human rights expert in the Palestinian territories, who
described the regime as being designed to dominate and systematically
oppress Palestinians, noted that there should be "serious
consideration" over bringing the occupation to the international court
of justice.

The South African professor of international law, assigned to monitor
Israeli human rights abuses, studied apartheid in South Africa and has
compared it to what he saw under Israeli rule.

"Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to
establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over
another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppressing
them? Israel denies that this is its intention or purpose. But such an
intention or purpose may be inferred from the actions described in
this report," Mr. Dugard said.

"It has become abundantly clear that the wall and checkpoints are
principally aimed at advancing the safety, convenience and comfort of
settlers," he said.

"In effect, following Israel's withdrawal, Gaza became a sealed-off,
imprisoned and occupied territory," he added.

A recently released study by the United Nations pointed to the fact
that poverty has noticeably surged in Gaza as a result of the Western
aid cuts which had been in effect since Hamas won parliamentary
elections last year, adding that growing numbers of Palestinians
living in Gaza and the West Bank are "food insecure" and are becoming
dependent on food aid.

According to the new report from the World Food Programme (WFP), the
weak Palestinian economy made workers including fishermen, farmers,
and small traders - increasingly desperate.

-- AJP and agencies

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