French MPs sign resolution condemning Israeli apartheid against Palestinians

Dozens of far-left members of the French parliament have signed a draft resolution condemning the Israeli regime for practicing apartheid and committing war crimes against Palestinians.

Titled "Institutionalization of an Apartheid Regime Against the Palestinian People", the motion was endorsed by 38 members of the French National Assembly, who represent the newly-formed far-left NUPES coalition.

The draft resolution was originally submitted on July 13 by Communist MP Jean-Paul Lecocq but stirred a public debate on Friday.

Among the signatories include former presidential candidate Fabien Roussel, and deputies from the "France Proud" (radical left) party, such as Adrien Katniss, socialist Christine Pierce-Bonn, and both Aurelian Tashi and Sabrina Sabaihi of the Green Party.

Much to the chagrin of the pro-Israeli lobby in the West, it describes Tel Aviv as an "institutional apartheid regime," blasting the occupying entity for establishing a system of "systemic oppression and control by one group" and committing war crimes against Palestinians under occupation.

Since 1948, when the Israeli regime came into existence through illegitimate means, it “has pursued a policy aimed at establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic hegemony and expanding its control over the territory for the benefit of Israeli Jews,” reads the text.

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And following the regime's victory against a combined force of Arab armies in the Six-Day War of June 1967, “Israel extended this policy to the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” the draft further adds, referring to Palestinian territories.

“Currently, all territories under Israeli control remain administered with the aim of favoring Israeli Jews at the expense of the Palestinian population, while successive Israeli governments have continued to deny the right of return to Palestinian refugees for more than seven decades.”

The resolution also calls for the legalization of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, a transnational, Palestinian-led organization that works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressures Tel Aviv to comply with international law.

The draft text urges “imposition of a strict arms embargo” and a French-sponsored resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would impose “targeted sanctions, such as the freezing of assets, on the Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid.”

The signatories call on the French government to “recognize the State of Palestine,” and demand that the United Nations impose an arms embargo on the occupation, and “target sanctions” against Israeli officials “most implicated in the crime of apartheid.” 

Jérôme Guedj, a NUPES parliamentarian, attacked the motion for describing the Israeli regime as a colonial entity devoid of legal and moral legitimacy.

“If it is always legitimate to challenge the policy of a government, I do not understand how the abolition of a state advances peace by a millimeter,” he wrote.

“The resolution maintains that Israel is an apartheid regime, calls for the legalization of the boycott of Israeli products, and pleads for the official recognition of Palestine,” Guedj added. “If I can defend this last point, the first two are unacceptable. I condemn them.”

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