These practices deny the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, peaceful
assembly and association, and highlight an ongoing Israeli policy of
suppression of Palestinians who openly challenge Israeli practices. Article 2(f)
of the Apartheid Convention, which reads “Persecution of organizations and
persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because
they oppose apartheid,” provides that the suppression of resistance and
opposition to apartheid, and the system of institutionalized domination
that it involved, was one of the hallmarks of an apartheid regime.393 After
consideration of the Israeli policies and practices, their systematic nature,
and when compared to the policies of suppression of resistance used in
apartheid South Africa, a finding of suppression of Palestinian resistance as a
pillar of the crime of apartheid can be deduced.
Forced Displacement and Forcible Transfer
Some aspects of the policy of suppression of resistance constitute automatic
deportation or forcible transfer under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, and a war crime and crime against humanity under the
Rome Statute. Transferring Palestinian prisoners from the oPt to prisons
inside Israel is an illegal act that amounts to deportation, while sending
prisoners to the Gaza Strip upon release or punitive revocation of residency
constitutes forcible transfer. An unknown number of Palestinians have also
left their homes by force as a result of threats of force or coercion, duress,
psychological oppression, or other Israeli acts of suppression of resistance.
As shown throughout the paper, these Israeli policies and practices do not
only impact those directly affected by them but also the community as a
whole. The collective consequences imposed on Palestinians spreads the fear
of persecution or of being subjected to suppression to all those living under
Israeli control. Their forced displacement due to the deeply oppressive living
environment surrounding them is consistent with legal definitions of forcible
transfer in the oPt and with forced displacement inside Israel.
Other consequences are also derived from the policies described
throughout the Paper, including the criminalization of all kinds of resistance,
which has resulted in a decrease in popular opposition to the system of
domination. This impact and weakening of Palestinian resistance has
decreased opposition not only to the system in general, but to the specific
policies of forced displacement that Israel implements across Mandate
Palestine. A decrease in resistance makes it easier for the occupying power
to continue implementing its regime of colonization, through transferring
393 Human Sciences Research Council, Persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of
fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid, May 2009
105
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