World powers silently watching as Israel continues to commit crime against humanity

 Israeli occupation forces continue to deprive Palestinians from basic human, religious and democratic rights 

The world is silently watching the Israeli forces committing crimes against humanity in Jerusalem  and other occupied areas. Israel launched bombing in Gaza yesterday and today. many houses were destroyed in the Israeli attacks. Israeli forces also stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque twice in last two days. All this is happening without any condemnation  from big powers. 

The US and European powers are condemning the Russian aggression in Ukraine but keeping mum over Israeli aggressions against Palestinians. It is called hypocrisy. The world powers have adopted double standards. They have one standard for Ukraine and other for Palestinians. American Imperialism is protecting the Israeli crimes and failed to take action against Israeli crimes.   Israeli forces violating the human rights on daily basis. 

Israeli occupation forces continue to deny the basic human, religious and democratic rights to the Palestinians. The Israeli occupation forces stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque twice in two days. The Israeli special forces entered the Al Aqsa Mosque at the dawn when Muslims were busy in prayers. The Israeli forces attacked the worshippers and injured many Palestinians including women. It was brutal use of force in the Holy month of Ramadan against peaceful people. 

Israeli forces stormed al-Aqsa Mosque early on Sunday, assaulting and blockading Muslim worshippers inside prayer halls while clearing the way for Israeli settlers to enter the occupied East Jerusalem holy site. 

At around 7am local time, hundreds of special forces entered the mosque's courtyard and began striking Palestinians  observing Ramadan with batons in a bid to force them out. There were also reports of stun grenades being deployed. 

In the silver-domed Qibli prayer hall, Israeli forces fired teargas at worshippers and blocked them indoors for almost four hours. Dozens of people were trapped inside and were not able to evacuate those who sustained minor injuries. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its medics were also prevented from entering the mosque to provide first aid.

 People trapped inside the Qibli hall pleaded for help using loudspeakers, urging Palestinians to come and protect the mosque. Israeli forces reportedly tried to access the audio room afterwards to cut off the sound system, which was later repaired by the mosque's volunteers. 

Female worshippers were also blocked in and not allowed to leave in a similar manner. All the while, hundreds of Israelis, protected by heavily armed forces, continuously stormed the courtyard of the mosque in different groups for the duration of the raid. 

Far-right Israeli activists and settler groups had announced plans to storm al-Aqsa this week in large numbers starting from Sunday to mark the Jewish Passover holiday. The Islamic Waqf, a joint Jordanian-Palestinian trust that administrates the affairs of al-Aqsa, recorded more than 500 settlers who entered in this period.

The [Israeli] state will never give up these raids because from the onset of its creation it has been working to erode this Islamic monument, which symbolises the Arabic and Islamic roots of the Palestinian struggle. "As part of an understanding between Jordan – the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem – and Israel, non-Muslims can visit al-Aqsa but aren't allowed to pray there. 

The raids were often scaled-down and at times cancelled during Muslim holidays, such as in the holy month of Ramadan.  However, this has changed in recent years and settlers also began to perform prayer inside the mosque during their incursions, which is a violation of the internationally agreed status quo.

 Israel does not only commit war crimes, but also commits crimes against humanity, which are "among the most awful crimes. apart from committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, Israel recurrently declared that it would not withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories, which is considered illegal annexation under international law. 

If it is an illegal annexation, Israelis have no right whatsoever in East Jerusalem. They have no rights whatsoever in Gaza. Let me emphasize it, they have no rights of self-defense. They have only one right: They have the right to pack up their bags and leave (Palestine).

The escalation in East Jerusalem and Gaza should be understood as part of Israel’s long-term, systematic, and planned efforts and history of stealing Palestinian lands, which could be traced back to even before the establishment of Israel in 1948.

 Palestinians have the right to defend their lands and apply to every mean in this end against "the thief state" (Israel), considering the international law and Israel’s inhuman actions.

Comparing the US administrations' approaches toward the issue, President Joe Biden is not different from others in essence.

In February 2022, Amnesty International published comprehensive report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law. This system is maintained by violations which Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.

Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, Amnesty International said today in a damning new report. The investigation details how Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights. This includes Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as well as displaced refugees in other countries.

Amnesty International called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation in the OPT and calls on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction to bring perpetrators of apartheid crimes to justice.

A system of apartheid is an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination by one racial group over another. It is a serious human rights violation which is prohibited in public international law. Amnesty International’s extensive research and legal analysis, carried out in consultation with external experts, demonstrates that Israel enforces such a system against Palestinians through laws, policies and practices which ensure their prolonged and cruel discriminatory treatment.

Amnesty International documented acts proscribed in the Apartheid Convention and Rome Statute in all the areas Israel controls, although they occur more frequently and violently in the OPT than in Israel. Israeli authorities enact multiple measures to deliberately deny Palestinians their basic rights and freedoms, including draconian movement restrictions in the OPT, chronic discriminatory underinvestment in Palestinian communities in Israel, and the denial of refugees’ right to return. The report also documents forcible transfer, administrative detention, torture, and unlawful killings, in both Israel and the OPT.

Amnesty International found that these acts form part of a systematic and widespread attack directed against the Palestinian population, and are committed with the intent to maintain the system of oppression and domination. They therefore constitute the crime against humanity of apartheid.

The unlawful killing of Palestinian protesters is perhaps the clearest illustration of how Israeli authorities use proscribed acts to maintain the status quo. In 2018, Palestinians in Gaza began to hold weekly protests along the border with Israel, calling for the right of return for refugees and an end to the blockade. Before protests even began, senior Israeli officials warned that Palestinians approaching the wall would be shot. By the end of 2019, Israeli forces had killed 214 civilians, including 46 children.

In light of the systematic unlawful killings of Palestinians documented in its report, Amnesty International is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. This should cover all weapons and munitions as well as law enforcement equipment, given the thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been unlawfully killed by Israeli forces. The Security Council should also impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid.

                                                                        Khalid Bhatti