UN report: Israel has established an ‘apartheid regime’
A new United Nations report accuses Israel of having established "an apartheid regime that oppresses and dominates the Palestinian people as a whole".
The publication comes amid renewed debate about whether, through its settlement policy and rejection of Palestinian self-determination, the Israeli government is creating - or even has already created - a de facto "one-state", which critics warn would constitute a form of apartheid.
It urged governments to "support boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] activities and respond positively to calls for such initiatives".
The report - Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid - was commissioned and published by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and launched in Beirut.
John Reynolds, a lecturer in law at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, told Al Jazeera the report "breaks new ground in the context of the UN's analysis of the situation in Palestine".
