PRESS RELEASE
1st February 2022
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has welcomed Amnesty International’s landmark report ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity’.
Published today, this report reveals ‘a systematic and widespread attack directed against the Palestinian population – which is committed with the intent to maintain a system of oppression and domination; they therefore constitute the crime against humanity of apartheid.’
The MCB endorses the report’s call for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and reiterates its call on the UK government to suspend forthcoming arms exports to Israel pending the result of this investigation.
The report confirms what has been long-since understood about the plight of the Palestinian people, and stated by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu himself in 2014: “I know first-hand that Israel has created an apartheid reality within its borders and through its occupation. The parallels to my own beloved South Africa are painfully stark indeed.”
Amnesty International and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are not alone. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem also concurs. It has said: ‘A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime.’
Amnesty’s conclusions resonate with the primary victims of this oppression, the Palestinian people. A wide coalition of human rights defenders have also come together to support the report.
Commenting on the report and its findings, MCB Secretary-General, Zara Mohammed said:
“This report unequivocally confirms what we already knew: that Palestine and Palestinians are subjected to a system of apartheid.
“It is vital at this juncture that we all continue striving for a just peace, one which sees an end to the occupation by Israeli forces of Palestine. This can only happen when the international community upholds its obligations to the rule of law and justice, this includes the ICC to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We must stand up for human rights.”
[ENDS]
Notes to editors:
- For any media enquiries, please contact: media@mcb.org.uk
- Read previous statement ‘MCB calls for sustained action against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories‘
- The Muslim Council of Britain is the country’s largest representative body of mosques and Islamic associations.
Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP