Israel ‘must obey humanitarian law and recognise the right of Palestinian refugees’ - Fennessy
Israel must grant equal rights to all Palestinians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory in line with principles of international human rights and in line with humanitarian law and recognise the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to homes where they and their families want to live, a Sinn Fein councillor told a meeting of Meath County Council on Monday.
Cllr Eddie Fennessy was speaking during his presentation of an emergency motion on the subject tabled at the meeting which was held at the EU Commission offices at Grange. In line with council protocol which dictated that if the emergency motion is agreed by all present just the proposer is allowed to speak on the subject. Independent Cllr Alan Lawes seconded the motion.
Cllr Fennessy said that two years ago Amnesty International had published a report which about Israel’s “apartheid” against Palestinians, “a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity. That report had documented the seizure of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, movement restrictions and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians. They were all components of a system of apartheid, he said.
These systems were maintained by Israel and they had been described by Amnesty International as a crime against humanity. The report had revealed the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime whether in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank or Israel itself. Palestinians were treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.
“Amnesty found that Israel’s cruel policies on segregation, dispossession, and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amounts to apartheid. So what is apartheid, a chairde? It is a system of institutionalised regime of oppression and domination by one racial group over another. It is a serious human rights violation which is prohibited under international law.”
Israeli authorities enacted multiple measures to deliberately deny Palestinians their basic rights and freedoms, Cllr Fennessy said. Amnesty had documented forcible transfer, administrative detention, torture and unlawful killing in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, he said. The council agreed the motion that Israel must grant equal rights to all Palestinians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.