GENEVA March 23. 2023 (Saba) - Amnesty International has announced that its offices will deliver petitions signed by more than 200,000 people around the world to the Zionist authorities calling on them to put an end to the demolition of Palestinian homes as a first step towards dismantling the apartheid system.
AI said in a statement that its petition entitled “Destroy apartheid, not the homes of the Palestinians,” will be delivered to the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity, Benjamin Netanyahu, and it has been signed by people in at least 174 countries.
The Palestinian News Agency said that these signatures will be presented on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which the international community celebrates annually in memory of the 69 peaceful anti-apartheid demonstrators killed by South African police on March 21, 1960.
“Israel's discriminatory planning policies and systematic home demolitions of Palestinians exemplify the racism that lies at the heart of its harsh apartheid regime,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director.
Morayef added the Israeli authorities have been seeking for decades to achieve their clear racist demographic goals by expelling Palestinians from their homes and displacing them from their lands. Since the beginning of 2023, more than 400 Palestinians have been displaced as a result of the demolitions while hundreds of thousands are at risk of displacement.
She continued “The apartheid regime is a crime against humanity, and a gross violation of human rights. The continued failure to hold the Israeli authorities to account represents a stain on the conscience of the international community. Today, Amnesty International’s demand to end this injustice has the support of 203,410 people from countries in "All over the world. This solidarity reminds us that the voices against the Israeli apartheid regime are getting louder. We will not remain silent until this system is dismantled and the Israeli authorities are held accountable."
AI called on member states to support moves and decisions aimed at ending the apartheid regime amid the meeting of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.
This includes replenishing funding for the UN database of companies involved in activities in or dealing with illegal settlements, meeting their legal obligations, and taking steps to hold Israel accountable for its violations, including through Israel's Universal Periodic Review, scheduled for 9 May at the Human Rights Council.
Amnesty International reiterated its call on all countries to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to put an end to house demolitions, forced displacement and settlement expansion, to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and an end to impunity for the illegal attacks committed against the Palestinians by the Zionist enemy army and settlers.
H.H
resource : Saba
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