• B’TSELEM, a respected Israeli human-rights organisation, has stated that it will henceforth describe Israel as an “apartheid state”.

The crime of apartheid is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity “committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime”.

Israel maintains an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by Jews against all other racial groups, and particularly Palestinians.

B’Tselem argues that the whole area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river forms, in fact, a single oppressive regime effectively controlled by Israel in spite of being made up of different legal entities.

Palestinians living under that single regime are divided into four tiers with various levels of rights depending on where they live, but always below Jewish people.

The supremacy of Jews over other groups is constitutionally enshrined in the so-called Nation-State Law that grants various legal privileges to Jews.

B’Tselem calls the Israeli system “apartheid 2.0” because of certain important differences from the South-African variety that was officially dismantled nearly 30 years ago. Despite those differences the similarities are striking.

Camden has a long history of supporting the anti-apartheid struggle. The Anti-Apartheid Movement had its headquarters in Camden, in what is now fittingly called Mandela Street.

We are proud to continue the fight against apartheid, be it in Israel or anywhere else it may appear. We shall not be intimidated.

We encourage all your readers to adhere to the campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – BDS – to put the pressure of ordinary citizens and civil society on apartheid Israel.

SABBY SAGALL
HELENA AKSENTIJEVIC
LUCA SALICE
GEOFF LEE
Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign