FARAAN: Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester, UK, and a member of the House of Lords, sparked the anger of Jewish minorities by stating that the Zionist occupying regime is akin to the former apartheid system in South Africa.
Treweek told the British newspaper “The Telegraph” that she wants to “boldly” stand alongside those who compare Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of black people in South Africa. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, also accused Israel of “illegal” and “systematic” discrimination against Palestinians.
Regarding the war in Palestine, Treweek said, “In the past, I was cautious about using the word apartheid to describe the situation in Palestine and Israel, but after seeing what life is like now in the occupied Palestinian territories, I want to stand with other individuals and groups who call this regime racist.”
Earlier this month, the International Court of Justice in The Hague emphasized that the Israeli settlement policy “violates international laws” and called on countries not to recognize the illegal presence of “Israel” in the occupied Palestinian territories. Nawaf Salam, President of the International Court of Justice, while reading the advisory opinion of the court’s public session, noted that this opinion does not include the October 2023 Gaza war.
Salam said, “The advisory opinion is based on the premise that Palestinian territories are occupied and that Israel maintains its control over the Gaza Strip, particularly monitoring its air, sea, and land borders.” Emphasizing that “the Palestinian people, recognized under the Oslo Accords, have the right to self-determination,” he said, “The forced expulsion of residents of the occupied territories violates Israel’s obligations” and “the confiscation of Palestinian lands by Israel and granting them to settlers is not temporary and violates the Geneva Convention.”
He noted that “Israel’s duties in the occupied territories are subject to the 1959 treaty on the treatment of civilians during wartime,” emphasizing that the occupying regime “has violated its commitments under the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.” The Chief Justice of the International Court of Justice stated that the occupied Palestinian territories are unified and sovereign lands that must be respected, adding that the authorities of the occupying regime cannot displace the population of the occupied territories or settle some of their citizens there.
He pointed out that the transfer of settlers to the West Bank or East Jerusalem contradicts Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, and the seizure of Palestinian property by settlers violates Israel’s international obligations. According to the court, the actions of the Israeli occupying regime “since the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967 violate the right to self-determination.”
The Chief Justice of the International Court of Justice emphasized that “the occupation regime is considered a temporary situation due to military necessity” and “the prolonged occupation of Palestinian territories does not change their legal status.”
