Millions of Palestinians live under Israel’s system of apartheid. At the heart of this violently racist system, is the Palestinian experience of being denied a home.
For over 73 years, Israel has forcibly displaced entire Palestinian communities and demolished hundreds of thousands of Palestinians’ homes, causing terrible trauma and suffering. Over six million Palestinians remain as refugees and, as you are reading this email, at least another 150,000 are at risk of losing their homes.
“My plan was for [my children] to have a warm family home close to their loved ones and family members. Now I’m passing on the memories of their first childhood home being destroyed” – Mohammed Al-Rajabi, a resident of Al-Bustan area in Silwan
Palestinians are caught in a Catch-22 situation. Israel requires them to obtain a permit to build or even erect a structure such as a tent, but rarely issues them a permit. Many Palestinians are forced to build without permits. Israel then demolishes Palestinian homes on the basis that they were built “illegally”.
Take action against demolitions and forced evictions now by writing to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Click here.
Apartheid is a crime against humanity and is committed with the specific intent of maintaining a cruel system of control by one racial group over another. Every week, the Israeli authorities displace Palestinians through demolitions or forced evictions, which demonstrates how Israel deliberately disadvantages Palestinians, giving them inferior status to Israeli Jews.
In March – one month after Amnesty’s ground breaking report Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity — the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Michael Lynk, submitted a report to the Human Rights Council also concluding that the situation in the OPT amounts to apartheid.
With more stories coming to light and more people around the world mobilizing against these injustices, now is the time for us to work together. As a first step, we must speak out for Palestinians living under Israel’s apartheid. We have the power to demolish this system, one pillar at a time.