Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs… Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.
– Mahatma Gandhi
The Free Palestine movement is a complex and dynamic phenomenon that reflects the diversity and resilience of the Palestinian people, as well as the urgency and difficulty of their struggle. It is a movement that seeks to restore the dignity, freedom, and rights of a people who have suffered decades of oppression, dispossession, and violence. It is a movement that hopes for a peaceful and just resolution of one of the longest and most intractable conflicts in modern history.
According to Amnesty International, Israel imposes a system of apartheid against Palestinians across all areas under its control: in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and against Palestinian refugees in other countries. The report claims that Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination through massive land grabs, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, movement restrictions, and denial of citizenship and nationality to Palestinians, for the benefit of Jewish Israelis2
Human Rights Watch also accuses Israel of committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians in Israel and the OPT. The organization argues that Israel has a policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, and that it systematically violates the rights of Palestinians to equality, freedom, and dignity34
These allegations are based on the analysis of Israel’s laws, policies, and practices that affect the rights and lives of Palestinians in different ways, depending on where they live and their legal status. The reports also highlight the impact of Israel’s apartheid system on the daily realities and suffering of millions of Palestinians, who face segregation, dispossession, and exclusion.