Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank: A Legal Analysis of Israel’s Actions, International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School & Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, February 28, 2022.
This legal submission argues that Israel’s system of rule in the occupied West Bank constitutes apartheid under international law, claiming Israeli authorities maintain a dual legal regime that systematically privileges Jewish Israeli settlers while suppressing Palestinian civil and political rights.
1. The West Bank System Meets the Legal Definition of Apartheid
2. Apartheid as a Universal International Crime
3. Palestinians and Jewish Israelis as Distinct “Racial Groups”
4. A Dual Legal System in the Same Territory
5. Military Orders and Suppression of Palestinian Political Rights
6. Military Courts and the Denial of Due Process
7. Military Law, Detention, and the Suppression of Palestinian Civil Society
8. Occupation Law Does Not Override the Prohibition of Apartheid
9. The West Bank System Satisfies the Legal Elements of Apartheid
⭐ Star Facts
- The submission argues Israel has governed the West Bank through a military occupation system since 1967.
- Israeli military commanders have issued more than 1,800 military orders regulating Palestinian life in the West Bank.
- Jewish Israeli settlers in the West Bank are governed under Israeli civilian law, while Palestinians are governed under Israeli military law.
- Palestinians in the West Bank do not vote in the Israeli system that exercises major control over their lives, while Israeli settlers in the same territory vote in Israeli national elections.
- Military orders reportedly criminalize political gatherings of more than ten people if interpreted as political and lacking military approval.
- Between 2010–2019, an average of roughly 5,500 Palestinians per year were detained by Israeli military authorities on suspicion of “security offenses.”
- The paper states Israeli military court conviction rates for Palestinians historically exceeded 99%.
- Palestinians can reportedly be held in administrative detention for renewable six-month periods without formal charges using secret evidence unavailable to detainees or lawyers.