SYNOPSIS:
Several #humanrights organisations including #amnestyinternational which released the report- ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: a Cruel System of Domination and a Crime Against Humanity’ have concluded that Israel’s governance of occupied #palestinian territory amounts to the crime of #apartheid under international law.
#israel has been accused of considering the #palestinians as a demographic threat and imposing measures to control and decrease their presence and access to land in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Critics say that these demographic aims are well illustrated by official plans to “Judaize” areas of Israel and the #westbank , including East #jerusalem , which continue to put thousands of Palestinians at risk of forcible transfer.
Israel has also been accused of running a campaign of ‘Oppression without borders’ and treating the Palestinians as ‘lesser citizens’ through codified laws and statutes.
However, Israel and her partner allies have vehemently refuted these accusations. Pro-Israel voices defend saying that Israel is a multi-racial and multi-coloured society and the #arabminority actively participates in the political process. Incitement to racism in Israel is a criminal offence, as is discrimination on the basis of race or religion.
Pro-Israel voices also point to the fact that there isn’t a single Jewish community living anywhere under Palestinian control. This isn’t because of #jewish preferences. Jewish communities exist across the world; they would certainly exist 10 minutes from Jerusalem if it weren’t for the Palestinian Authority’s policies of excluding Jews and inciting violence and prejudice against them. Palestinian law makes selling land to Jews a crime punishable by death, often without trial. Nor does the authority recognize any Jewish titles to private property. In Israel, by contrast, assert its supporters, Arabs enjoy full property rights, enforced by the courts.
So, where does the truth lie? Are the critics accurate in their critique that Israel oversees an apartheid regime? Or are Israel’s advocates justified in their insistence that Israel represents the culmination of a Jewish national self-determination movement?
Argumentative Indians explore the different facets of the question - “Is Israel an Apartheid State?” with eminent experts in a LIVE panel discussion.
SPEAKERS:
1. Akshaya Kumar -
Akshaya Kumar is the Director of Crisis Advocacy at Human Rights Watch. She oversees the organization’s advocacy response to emergencies and develops innovative strategies to respond to evolving crises. Kumar joined HRW as Deputy United Nations Director in 2015 and represented the organization at UN headquarters in New York for four years. She previously worked at the Enough Project where she helped launch The Sentry, an initiative that seeks to freeze war criminals out of the international financial system.
2. Itamar Marcus
Itamar Marcus is a researcher and the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch. which studies Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing the Palestinian Authority (PA) through its media and schoolbooks. His work on textbooks led Benyamin Netanyahu to appoint Marcus to represent his country in the negotiations with the Palestinians on incitement in the Trilateral Anti-Incitement Committee (Israeli-Palestinian-American) in his capacity as Director of Research for the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMP), where he served from 1998 to 2000.
3. Abhijit Iyer Mitra #abhijitiyermitra
His primary research is on limited wars and nuclear thresholds, but his interests include, military transformation, defence planning, procurement and offsets, infrastructure, governance and Historical Patterns of Conflict in Democracies.He is a Programme Coordinator at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, and currently a Visiting Research Scholar at Sandia National Laboratories.
#israelpalestine #israelpalestineconflict #israelites #palestinian #humanrights #humanrightswhithoutfrontiers #nationalsecurity #foreignpolicy #debate #humanrightswatch #apartheid #jerusalem #jews #arabs #amnestyinternational #abhijitiyermitra
EXPLORE MORE:
Find out about upcoming sessions and learn how you can join them live and become a part of the conversation - www.argumentativeindians.com
DISCLAIMER:
We invite thought leaders from across the ideological spectrum. The guests in our sessions express their independent views and opinions. Argumentative Indians does not profess to subscribe, agree or endorse the same or be in anyway responsible for the stance, words and comments of our guests.