‘Israel’ maintains over 65 laws that discriminate against Palestinians, says Amnesty
Amnesty International said that ‘Israel’ continued to impose institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians living under its rule in the Green Line and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
In its annual report, Amnesty stated that Israeli occupation authorities in 2020 “continued to discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel in areas of planning, budget allocation, policing and political participation.”
According to the Adalah-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in ‘Israel’, ‘Israel’ maintains over 65 laws that discriminate against Palestinians.”
“Local Palestinian councils in Israel went on strike to protest against discrimination in the distribution of the state budget for local councils. The vast majority of Palestinians in Israel, comprising over 20% of the total population, live in around 139 towns and villages. They received only 1.7% of the state budget for local council,” it said.
“In August, Adalah and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of 10 local Palestinian councils and dozens of Palestinian citizens of Israel against government policy discriminating against these communities in the distribution of housing, construction and land development benefits compared to neighbouring Jewish communities that enjoy higher socio-economic status and have access to such benefits.’
‘Israel’ continued to deny Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza married to Palestinians living inside the Green lines the right to nationality by enforcing the discriminatory Entry to Israel Law, said Amnesty.
“In December, the magistrate court in Krayot, near Haifa, rejected a petition for access to education by Palestinian citizens of Israel living in Karmiel, citing the discriminatory Nation State Law. The decision said that establishing an Arabic school in the town or funding transport for its Palestinian residents to study in Arabic schools in nearby communities would undermine the town’s “Jewish character”.”
Amnesty also said in December, the Israeli Health Ministry began the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines that excluded the nearly 5 million Palestinians who live under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
