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Israeli settlements epitome of apartheid: Activist

Friday, 24 February 2017 4:54 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 24 February 2017 4:54 PM ]

Israeli forces fire tear gas as they clash with Palestinian protesters in the West Bank city of Hebron (al-Khalil) on February 24, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Human Rights Watch, which has written several critical reports about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, says the regime in Tel Aviv is set to stop issuing work visas to its staff.

A human rights activist believes Israel is seeking to “kick out” human rights groups that do not obey its commands in order to prevent any condemnation of its crimes.

“Israel can distinguish the difference between genuine criticism and propaganda, but Israel does not want any criticism so they label all of the criticism as propaganda, but it is not because they can’t tell the difference, they can, it is because they just don’t want criticism for their inhumane actions,” Ryan Dawson told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

He also noted that as Tel Aviv wants the world to ignore its human rights violations, it opposed a recent United Nations resolution condemning the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The activist further highlighted the fact that the Israeli settlements are “Jewish-only colonies,” which are “epitome of racism and apartheid.”

Dawson went on to say that the Israelis are only pretending to advocate peace or the so-called two-state solution, arguing that they cannot be sincere when they are simultaneously colonizing their neighbors and demolishing houses.

“They [the Israelis] are annexing territory in Jerusalem (al-Quds), they are annexing territory between the apartheid wall that they have built across their border which cuts into the West Bank; they have got the blockade on the Gaza Strip; they routinely murder people; they allow settlers to burn houses and kill infants and people and get... no real punishment; they arrest people without trial,” he said.

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