al jazeera, long beach, california. ♪ >> the headlines on al jazeera. much needed medical supplies have begun arriving in india, struggling to stemhe spread of covid-19. it accounts for half of the world's new infections. one person is dying every four minutes and crematorium's are at breaking points. the u.s. is easing covid-19 restrictions for people who are vaccinated. they can now socialize outside without a facemask. president joe biden says the country has made stunning progress, but there still a long way to go in the fight against the pandemic. >> the bottom line is clear. if you are vaccinated, you can

do more things more safely, both outdoors as well as indoors. for those who have not gotten their vaccination yet, especially if you are younger, or thinking you don't need it, this is another great reason to go get vaccinated, now, now, yes, the vaccines are about saving your life, but also the life of the people around you -- lives of the people around you. >> a u.s. military ship fired shots in a second close encounter between the two countries' militaries. the iranian ships moved to close to its trips twice this month despite multiple warnings. somalia's president has agreed not to extend his term amid pressure, making the announcement after the prime minister said he was against the proposed two-year extension. at least five people have been

killed and dozens wounded in chad during protests against any military transition counsel. the army announced the son will succeed his father, killed last week fighting rebels. they are demanding a return to civilian rule. the fbi opened a civil rights investigation into the killing of an unarmed like man by police in north carolina. the announcement comes after an independent autopsy revealed andrew brown, jr. was shot five times. lawyers for his families say the fatal bullet hit him in the back of his head. they described it as the kill shot. those are the headlines on al jazeera. "inside story" is up next. ♪

mohammed: apartheid in israel. human rights watch calls a -- calls the domination of palestinians a crime against humanity. israel rejects this and has ignored similar allegations before. so, can anything be done to hold israeli leaders accountable? this is "inside story." ♪ hello, and welcome to the program. i'm mohammed jamjoom. the term "apartheid" was first used in south africa to describe the systematic separation and oppression of people based on their race. it is a crime against humanity. human rights watch says that's exactly what's happening in israel. it accuses the government of enforcing policies to maintain its dominance over palestinians.

israel has dismissed similar accusations before and called the latest report a piece of propaganda. but palestinian leaders say it is a solid account of atrocities, adding it is time for international action. we will bring in our guests in a moment. first, this report in occupied east jerusalem. reporter: anti-palestinian racism was on show in jerusalem last week, with hundreds of israeli far right activists chanting death to arabs. the far right, thanks to an electoral alliance sponsored by the prime minister, now has a foothold inside parliament. but in its new report, human rights watch makes a broader accusation, that the israeli government itself practices apartheid and persecution. >> we started looking at it and we saw a reality, which is a single government rules over the area between the jordan and the -- the jordan river and the mediterranean sea with roughly 6.8 million jewish israelis and 6.8 million palestinian live. across these areas, is really

authority systematically oppressed palestinians and methodically privileged jewish israelis. reporter: the report focuses on four arenas. palestinian israeli citizens are discriminated against, particularly in terms of land-use. in the occupied west bank, where palestinians, unlike israeli settlers, are subject to military law. and west settlers have preferential access to land, resources, and building permits. in hamas-controlled gaza, from which palestinians are barred exit to live in the west bank or east jerusalem, and in occupied east jerusalem. where, unlike israeli citizens, palestinians can have their the residency status revoked. this is the second high-profile report this year that's accused israel of practicing apartheid. in january, the israeli rights group said the israeli government was enacting jewish supremacist policies in the occupied palestinian territories and inside israel itself. israel is again rejecting such charges. it's foreign ministry -- its

foreign ministry, saying human rights watch is known to have a long-standing and israeli agenda, actively seeking for years to promote workouts against israel. the decision to not share this report for review or comment with any israeli authority i clear indication that it is a propaganda pamphlet which lacks all credibility. but critics point to the 2018 nation state law which defined national self determination as "unique to the jewish people." and the fact that for several months last year, israel's prime minister was advocating the permanent annexation of nearly a third of the occupied west bank. >> this is a very important report on israel practicing apartheid policies. there should be punishment against the occupation. reporter: human rights watch says with no viable peace process in place, that situation has goneryrom temporary occupation to permanent domination, calling on the international criminal court to investigate its allegations.

al jazeera, occupied east jerusalem. mohammed: let's bring in our guests. in gaza, raji sourani, a human rights lawyer and director of the palestinian centre for human rights. in west jerusalem, anne herzberg, legal advisor to ngo monitor, a nongovernmental organization that analyzes the output of the international ngo community from a pro-israel perspective. and in london, william schabas, professor of international law at middlesex university. welcome to the program. raji, let me start with you today. the palestinian president has welcomed the human rights watch report, saying in a statement it is urgent for the international community to intervene. do palestinians feel that this will lead to any kind of change? >> yes, indeed. i want to say, since 20 years,

since having the conference in durban, south africa, more than 1,200 international organizations across the globe said israel is a new brand of apartheid. so this is not something really new for us. as international human rights organizations. but three months ago, one of the leading human rights organizations in israel stated in a report in a clear cut way that israel is a new brand of apartheid, and it is an apartheid system. and now, human rights watch is one of the leading international human rights organizations confirming as well that we are having, and the occupied -- in the occupied territories, in israel, a state of apartheid.

it is the most flagrant situation. apartheid is a practice. and all the israeli practices in the occupied territories show in a clear-cut way this is a new brand of apartheid practice in this part of the world. of course, we seek and ask all international human rights organizations who have this same position, but most importantly, governments as well, to respect this fact and try to change it. it would be a big shame, keeping this new brand of apartheid practice in the 21st century. now, when we went through the icc, one of our submissions -- mohammed: raji, i'm sorry to interrupt you. let me get back to the point about the icc in just a couple

of moments. let me go over to anne. in the context of this new report from human rights watch, just how explosive is the use of the term "apartheid," and how seriously does the is government -- the israeli government take the accusations? >> well, i actually think it is quite interesting that raji raised the durban conference. because in 2001, this campaign did begin at the u.n. durban conference. it revived the hateful canard that was repealed by the u.n. in 1991 that zionism was racism, and a group of organizations including his decided to revive this hateful canard and accuse israel of being an apartheid state. and this campaign, which he quite clearly acknowledged as a political campaign, aimed at denigrating the legitimacy of israel itself as a homeland, a safe haven for the jewish people, has been going on since then. the charge of apartheid is quite offensive.

there's been no other contacts outside of south africa. and by calling israel an apartheid state, precisely what is the remedy they are seeking? they are seeking to eliminate that state. so again, it's quite clear that the goals are hateful. and i would assume the government would take -- they know it is a political campaign and this is just propaganda. but it's important to take note of the depths to which many of these organizations, that although they claim they are promoting human rights, are actually working against human rights. mohammed: william, how significant is this new report from human rights watch? and from a legal perspective, does the report in your opinion make a solid case that it is an apartheid that is going on? >> well, it's not the first allegation. the crime against humanity of apartheid was being committed by israel, or israelis, as has been

pointed out, done by a major is really earlier in the year. -- a major is really ngo earlier in the year. and the allegation has been made in the past as well. in a report for the united nations some years ago. but human rights watch is a very prestigious international non-governmental organization. it doesn't make a charge like this lightly. it takes it very seriously. i've looked at the report. i find the legal arguments are well set up. they were applied in the international legal definitions. this is not a piece of propaganda. this is an analysis rooted in the claim of the violation of the right of equality, people being treated unequally. the evidence that human rights watch sets out in the report is more than 200 pages long, documents, many examples, both inside the occupied territories and inside israel proper, of

discriminatory treatment of palestinians. the definit@@n of apartheid requires an into attrition allies regime of systematic oppression. it is a crime before the international criminal court. i think the case is set out, let's get it before a judge, let's let judges decide this. mohammed: a few minutes ago, raji, he started to mention the icc. they opened a formal investigation into alleged war crimes in the palestinian territories. do you believe this new report is going to factor into the investigation in any meaningful way? >> when the icc and the prosecutor open the investigation, they begin to do preliminary examinations, we submitted one of our submissions

[indiscernible] one of the submissions was on crimes against humanity and persecution. it was entirely focused on apartheid and entirely focused on the gaza strip. the system in the west bank and palestinian territories held by the state of israel. it was simply to state the fact that we are having [indiscernible] with legal standards for apartheid, persecution, and crimes against humanity.

the submission concluded that we do have crimes against humanity and apartheid in this part of the world. so that is why we are continuing to present the preliminary examination as a human rights organization. precise submissions on this regard. this is one of the things the icc is going to look at now when they opened the investigation. we will have all that evidence. we will have all the crimes to provide our argument. mohammed: the fact that this report comes not too long after

the decision that there will be an investigation by the icc, is not causing concern among is really officials? is this causing some amount of concern? >> i mean, it is clear that this report and the report reference before are part of a program unfortunately funded by many european governments. where several of the ngo's they provide money to have decided as part of a coordinated campaign tissue reports making this -- to issue reports making this offensive allegation. their objective is to influence international criminal court. anyone looking at these reports in an objective way would certainly not consider them to be well sourced or well-founded. i doubt the professor would accept such writings from a student. when you actually look at how

the evidence has been twisted and manipulated. a lot of the plans are completely false. it completely glosses over the diversity within israel and calls all muslims palestinians, without recognizing the different communities there are. so, from that perspective, it's quite offensive also. so, i don't think there's a lot of concern. it's just more of the same. the same propaganda that these organizations have been pushing for many years. and as we have done with many of these reports in the past, when you actually examine the details, the claims fell apart quickly mohammed: -- fall apart quickly. mohammed: in this report, human rights watch says policymakers should shift focus away from a political solution and more towards a rights-based

approach for palestinian peace. is there any chance we might see that happen? >> it's a very interesting question, because we have this mixing of the political and the judicial. in this context. and it's always struck me as a fascinating situation, the activity of the international criminal court, which is purely judicial, the potential that it may have to influence of the political developments, to a problem where there's this termination by israel and the west bank. and that is to give the west bank for independence as a palestinian state. one of the solutions to this issue that makes the issue of apartheid evaporate is in fact to create funding to have a

proper autonomous, independent palestinian state fully exercising the right of self-determination. that is the issue that presents itself. i think israel -- anne was explaining the facts are poorly set up. if it goes before the icc, israel should not be worried about the facts. whoever is charged will have a fair trial. but i wouldn't be dismissive of the concerns and how this changes the game within israel. the charges the prosecutor has been looking at concern war crimes and are probably limited to a certain number of precise targets. people in the military and perhaps some of them in the political establishment. once you make the charge of apartheid, it's a whole state that's potentially susceptible to prosecution. so it is very difficult than within israel -- then within

israel for people in a position of authority to decide whether or not they may be subject to prosecution. that ought to be a concern. this does change the environment in terms of the threat of prosecution to individuals. many of them may reflect upon this and say, we can treat the palestinians a little better, we can solve this problem in a simple way by changing the laws that human rights watch has flagged. and if they do that, they are immune to prosecution. then they've solved the problem. that's what they have to do. mohammed: anne, i want to talk about the issue of the covid-19 vaccine in israel and occupied territories. the palestinians say israel is responsible for assisting. israel says the palestinians are in charge of their health system. i bring this up because there are rights group that have been highly critical of israel in this regard, saying the fact that israel, while it has is very successful covid-19 vaccine

campaign going on, the fact that they have not been providing vaccines to palestinian territories, that that is a form of medical apartheid. what do you say to that? >> well, just on the factual basis, that charges false. israel has vaccinated hundred 10,000 -- hundreds of thousands of palestinians within israel and outside in gaza and the west bank. they've provided hundreds of thousands of vaccines, medical assistance. the palestinian authority, in charge of the health care, has actually rejected on many occasions is really help from very early on in the pandemic. the palestinians decided they wanted to go along with the world health organization covax program. nevertheless, israel has vaccinated all the palestinians that enter into israel every to work.

several hundred thousand palestinians. of course, palestinians living in jerusalem are entitled, covered under the israeli health care system. they also have received vaccines to the same degree. really, even under the charges of these rights groups, under the legal paradigm that they are pushing forward, israel's and compliance with international law and under the provisions of the courts. which not only did they mutually agree to, it's been guaranteed by the international community including the u.n. mohammed: raji, do you believe that more vaccine should be provided? what do you say to these charges from rights groups? >> we have to confront it

and do our best to overcome it. we have the vaccine. but why gaza and occupied territories are unique, in gaza, we have this seat for 2 million people for the last 14 years. people who are in critical conditions are unable to move. [indiscernible] that is the essence of apartheid. you have essentially destroyed the health system. they did not allow equipment, they did not allow a lot of medicine, and that is why the

health system in the gaza strip was almost destroyed. that's what's unique in having the pandemic in gaza. even these vaccines should be authorized by the occupation. not given by the occupation. it's their entire full legal responsibility under international law. to provide these vaccines to the people under the occupation. but does israel care about that? this is a big change for israel. if this vaccine should be authorized, should not be given by the occupation.

we have one of the highest percentage of those who pass away everyday. this is a reality. this is the responsibility of the occupation. and this is a big change for the state of israel, to have this medical situation. beyond that, people don't have [indiscernible] are not having chemotherapy. so cancer patients are also suffering from that. not only the people who suffer from the pandec.

most lifesaving cases come back to gaza. comt to -- come to gaza. mohammed: raji, i'm sorry to interrupt you. but we are starting to run out of time. thanks. it looked to me like you wanted to jump in. we only have about a minute left. please go ahead. >> just surprise of the retelling that's going on in gaza that he completely ignores the fighting between the party and hamas and the what's going on in the palestinian authority responsible for the medical problems happening in gaza. that was quite interesting that he admitted that. mohammed: we've run out of time. we will have to leave the conversation. thank you to all of our guests. and thank you, too, for watching.

you can@ see this and all of or previous programs visiting our website, al jazeera dor com, -- dot com. you can also join the conversation on twitter @ajinsidestory. from me and the entire team here, bye for now. ♪ in çççññññññññññññññññññ

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