UN experts slam Israel's annexation plan: '21st century apartheid'

A 47-member panel criticizes the Israeli government's project, supported by the US ally. It leads to the creation of a "Palestinian Bantustan". And it is contrary to the UN charter, the Geneva conventions and the Security Council resolutions. Satisfaction among the Palestinians; Israeli counterattacks, the UN "does nothing to find a solution".

Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Dozens of United Nations human rights experts have condemned the Israeli plan of annexation of part of the occupied West Bank territories, calling it "the 21st century apartheid".

According to the group's members, about fifty in all, the project strongly supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violates international law and leads to the creation of a "Palestinian Bantustan".

To date, over 600 thousand Jewish settlers live in the 140 settlements scattered throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Much of the world community regards them as illegal under international law; faced with eth opposition of the Israeli government and its US ally.

The new Israeli government, agreed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz, plans to annex Palestinian territories and legalise settlements.

This worries Christian religious leaders in the Holy Land. For them, the plans are “serious and catastrophic,”backed by the United States through its controversial "deal of the century", a peace plan drafted by the Trump administration.

For the 47 experts, appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, "the annexation of the occupied territories is a serious violation of the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions". The project also contrasts with the decisions made in recent years by the Security Council and the UN General Assembly ", according to which" the acquisition of the territories by force or war is inadmissible ".

The Israeli occupation, they add, is already in itself "a source of profound human rights violations against the Palestinian population" and "are expected to increase following the annexation." “Two peoples - concludes the note - living in the same space, ruled by the same state, but with profoundly unequal rights. This is a vision of a 21st Century apartheid”.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO), welcomes the UN expert note, which represents a reminder "to the international community of its responsibilities" and the "seriousness of the situation". An Israeli diplomatic source, behind anonymity because unauthorized to speak to the press, replies that the statement "does nothing to help find a solution to the conflict or create a constructive dialogue between the parties".