United Nations A/HRC/22/NGO/1 Distr.: General 12 February 2013 English only G eneral Assembly H uman Rights Council T wenty-second session Agenda item 7 H uman rights situation in Palestine and other occupied A rab ter ritories W ritten statement * submitted by the International O rganization for the E limination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (E A F O R D), a non-governmental organization in special consultative status The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31. [1 January 2013] * This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting nongovernmental organization(s). GE.13-10886 A/H R C/22/N G O/1 A re A rabs discriminated against in Israel? Is discrimination racist? W ho is responsible for the discrimination? Discrimination against Arabs in Israel is grounded deep in the legal system by a distinction synonymous terms. In Israel, Arabs may be Israeli citizens, but they can never be Israeli nationals. In most other countries, nationality is defined by territorial boundaries. But in Israel, Zionist-proclaimed, extranationality status recognized. Three related fundamental laws interact to mandate preferential treatment of Israeli Jews: Israeli citizenship automatically. Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora who were forcibly evicted from their homes and driven out of their lands have, under international and natural law, the right to return, but are not allowed to. The Law of Citizenship: Arabs in Israel, who are the indigenous people of Palestine-Israel, may acquire citizenship if they were born in present-day Israel. But these Arabs do not have the same rights as Jews because Jews are both citizens and nationals, while Arabs are only citizens. so-called democracy where all citizens have equal rights. Racial discrimination is by ion, restriction, or preference based on race, color, ethnic origin. religious differences. f race, are the same laws benefits to Jews immigrating from foreign countries, and to deny the same benefits to native-born Arabs who are already Israeli citizens. This criteria. - This means demographically and politically and not only symbolically Jewish. To maintain their native land. EAFORD, an NGO that has been struggling for more than three decades against racial discrimination, believes that all states are under legal and moral obligation to treat their citizens and others who have come under their control equally in dignity and rights, without any discrimination based on religion, race, ethnicity or any other consideration. 2 A/H R C/22/N G O/1 eam Arabic distinction is made on the basis of the name. States are judged by their policies and behaviour and their respect for international law, international humanitarian law and human rights law. The question is to what extent such nomination affects or is likely to affect its policies and, in particular, its treatment of its own citizens and others for whom the state becomes responsible, e.g. in the case of Israel, the Palestinians who are Israeli citizens and Palestinians living in the occupied territories (the West Bank and Gaza) for whom Israel has become an occupier since 1967. in the first Palestine. However, in the operative recognition part of the letter, Truman deleted the s signature, and wrote Constitution prohibits discrimination. His advisers might have told him that to recognize it Palestinians who have become Israeli citizens by virtue of the United Nations partition of Palestine resolution, and may adversely affect the rights of hundreds of thousands of these who have been forcibly evicted from their homes and who would have the right to return. (Alan Peppe, a Tel Aviv University professor, has studied in detail from Israeli sources the official process of this forcible eviction that has created the Palestinian refugees problem. See his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine). The issue is now alive in the ope the Palestinian minority that has survived the ethnic cleansing and remained in that part of country is specifically enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as one of the basic human rights. Moreover the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes has been specifically confirmed in numerous resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the same body that recommended the creation of Israel. Obviously, justifiable, as is the present rejection of such recognition by the Palestinians who experience in their daily lives and in their rights the discriminatory consequences of recognizing . -respected Israeli Human Rights NGO). l be the position after official recognition is granted, Palestinians, many caring Jews and others ask? Is it any wonder that Israel is losing so much sympathy, not because of alleged antiSemitism, anti-Jewishness or self-hatred, but mainly because of the utter disregard for the rights of others and of the rule of law under international law, international humanitarian law, human rights law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice, by the so-called happen to visit Jerusalem, in the neighborhood, a village used to be called Lifta. The Palestinian inhabitants of that village, 3 A/H R C/22/N G O/1 their homes in their village, which is left to decay into ruins. The Palestinians in question are Israeli citizens. Many Jews, including the new young, are increasingly becoming worried as to the effect on f being the state of the Jews, and these people have started to speak out. Example, the interruption of the speeches of Netanyahu in his visits to USA, in which this young generation, who strongly believes in true Jewish values, continues to remind him of the actions by Israel, such as the siege of Gaza and the settlements, that are now Successive Israeli governments have been implementing to the letter the Zionist ideology of Vladimir Jabotinsky, the most honored Zionist leader in Israel, as expressed in an article internet search under the title of the article or the author. According to him, modern Jewish settlement in Palestine is similar to t European settlement of the Americas. History tells us, he says, it has never happened that foreign settlement was accepted by the indigenous population. Palestinians, in his view, will be no exception. Israel is insisting on binding recognition by the Palestinians, because only recognition by historical and legal rights, as recognized by international law and the international foresight becomes relevant. 4