Mr. Saleh Higazi:

I thank the committee for having me here today. I will start with the last point. I am a Palestinian citizen of Israel. To address Deputy Gannon’s point about speaking to Palestinian citizens of Israel, and it touches a bit on the research methodology of this report, the 280-page report consists of more than 20 years of systematic documentation of human rights violations, which we revisited, carried about Amnesty International, both in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories. We have more than 30 case studies in the report. The majority of these are case studies we have reported and campaigned on for more than 20 years, including case studies inside of Israel, particularly in the Naqab-Negev Desert, where there is a situation whereby Palestinian citizens of Israel live in what are called “unrecognised villages”. They are denied basic services, including electricity, water and education. Although they are citizens of Israel, their right to political participation, including in municipal and parliamentary elections, is impeded by the lack of the infrastructure that Israel does not provide them with.

A system of oppression and domination will indeed create a hierarchy among those who are oppressed and dominated. Therefore, the experience of oppression may be different from one place to another. This is not limited to geography. Some of the Palestinians living in Ramallah may be living a less oppressive reality than those living in Al-Naqab in unrecognised villages. Mr. Haddad may be living a less oppressive reality or experience than me, for example. We, as Palestinian citizens of Israel, are prevented from access to 80% of the land. I am, for example, prevented from passing my status as a citizen to my wife. My children are not registered to her and therefore cannot travel with her outside of the country, only with me. Therefore we have to go separate ways – me through the airport and her through Jordan. I am prevented from taking my wife, for example, to visit family in Jerusalem without a permit. As members may know, the process of applying for permits can be and is, most often, a degrading, humiliating and often dangerous process. It may include interrogation by Israeli security forces.

On top of that, in 2018, to crown a body of laws, policies and practices that are discriminatory against Palestinians, Israel passed the nation state law, stating very clearly in a claw of constitutional value, that this state, Israel, is only for Jewish people and only Jewish people have the right to self-determination in this state. This also angered many Arab Jews in the state who serve in the army and have protested and continue to protest this law. Indeed, the experiences of oppression are different. They are not all equal, but we are all equal under a system of apartheid.

If I may just return a little bit to the issue of methodology, the report consists of in-depth legal analysis of a body of laws, policies, and practices that Israel has put in place with regard to Palestinians, from the time of establishment until today. We look at laws that relate to nationality and status, land and property, and social and economic rights. As I mentioned, we revisited our documentation over the past couple of decades. We carried out new documentation on the ground. I am speaking to the committee from South Africa, but now we are based in East Jerusalem in Ramallah and I have a team there. Along with other colleagues who usually also carry out field research, including by visiting the communities and victims and getting testimonies and collecting evidence, including court documents, video and photographic evidence, medical reports and whatever corroborative evidence related to the specific case we are documenting, our team carried out, also in the context of writing this report, research on the ground specific to this report.

There was a question from Deputy Brady about the co-operation by the Israeli authorities. Unfortunately, despite us requesting information and meetings on a number of occasions, including sending a letter last July to request a meeting between our secretary general, Agnés Callamard, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yair Lapid, which has gone, as usual, unanswered, the Israeli authorities do not respond to our requests for meetings or letters to request information.

Also, it is very important to highlight that Amnesty International, as well as Human Rights Watch, has been denied access to Gaza since 2012. I was on the last delegation that visited Gaza in 2012 and that was to document violations by the Hamas authorities there as well as the effects of Israel’s illegal blockade amounting to collective punishment.

I want also to comment on Deputy Brady’s point on impunity and world inaction. Indeed, Israel has been held to a lower standard than other countries when it comes to international law and the violation of human rights. This is what we certainly hope to change with this report. By issuing this report, Amnesty has now completed a circle of consensus among human rights organisations. Deputies have mentioned other reports, including by B’Tselem and Yesh Din. It is important to note that Palestinian human rights organisations, academics and intellectuals have been using this legal framework of analysis for more than 20 years now. They have paved the way. Israeli organisations followed, and now international human rights organisations like ourselves have joined to complete this consensus. We hope this will create a turning point towards dismantling this system of oppression and domination amounting to apartheid, stopping the crime against humanity from being perpetrated, and towards those perpetrating it being held accountable.

On the last point, if I may just comment also on the issue of the peace process and the two-state solution, this has, unfortunately, sidelined human rights and international law for too long, allowing for a situation like this one of apartheid and a crime against humanity to be perpetrated and to continue to be perpetrated. I just want to note that, since the beginning of the year, we heard on at least two occasions from Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yair Lapid, that Israel will not continue with negotiations, it will not return to the two-state paradigm and there will not be a Palestinian state. We also heard, over the past couple of the days, I believe at the Munich Security Conference, the Israeli Minister of Defense also saying there will not be a Palestinian state. There are these statements from Israelis that are saying the peace process is not here, it will not be here, and that Israel, and this is a position that did not change from previous governments, will not recognise a Palestinian state. We as a human rights organisation are calling for international law and human rights to be centred in any engagement with both Israeli and Palestinian authorities and in their relationship with each other.

Without doing that, the current crisis will continue. I hope I have addressed some of the points. I am happy to come back to them.