This June 30, 2020, file photo, shows a view of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Efrayim in the Jordan Valley.
(ODED BALILTY/AP)
Israel's foreign ministry has rejected as "preposterous and false" claims by an international rights watchdog that it is pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians.
New York-based Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report which, it said, was not aimed at comparing Israel with apartheid-era South Africa but rather at assessing "whether specific acts and policies" constitute apartheid as defined under international law.
In its report, HRW pointed to Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement and seizure of Palestinian-owned land for Jewish settlement in territory occupied in the 1967 Middle East war as examples of policies it said were crimes of apartheid and persecution.
ALSO READ: Israeli PM denounces ICC decision on jurisdiction
The report also said Israel targeted against its own Arab minority and that amounted to crimes against humanity.
Just weeks ago the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it would investigate war crimes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with the Israeli military and armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas named as possible perpetrators.
Boycott accusations
Rejecting the claims, Israel's foreign ministry accused HRW of harboring an "anti-Israeli agenda," saying the group had sought "for years to promote boycotts against Israel".
The ministry said HRW's Israel program was being "led by a known (BDS) supporter, with no connection to facts or reality on the ground," referring to the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The purpose of this spurious report is in no way related to human rights, but to an ongoing attempt by HRW to undermine the State of Israel's right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people
Michael Biton, Strategic Affairs Minister
The report's author, HRW Israel and Palestine Director Omar Shakir, was expelled from Israel in 2019 over accusations he backs BDS.
Israeli officials also fiercely objected to apartheid accusations.
ALSO READ: Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law
"The purpose of this spurious report is in no way related to human rights, but to an ongoing attempt by HRW to undermine the State of Israel's right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people," Strategic Affairs Minister Michael Biton said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the report.
A statement from Abbas said: "It is urgent for the international community to intervene, including by making sure that their states, organizations, and companies are not contributing in any way to the execution of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine."
ICC probe
The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said in March that she would formally investigate war crimes in the Palestinian territories, after ICC judges ruled that the court had jurisdiction there.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ruling but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced it as anti-Semitism and said Israel does not recognize the court’s authority.
HRW called on the ICC prosecutor to "investigate and prosecute individuals credibly implicated" in apartheid and persecution.
Palestinians seek the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas captured in the 1967 conflict, for a future state.
Under interim peace deals with Israel, Palestinians have limited self-rule in the West Bank; Hamas runs Gaza.