Human Rights in Israel and Occupied Palestine

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Human Rights in Israel and Occupied Palestine - by Stephen Lendman

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) publishes annual reports on "The State of Human Rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories." This article reviews its December 2008 one as human rights activists commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10.

ACRI is Israel's leading human and civil rights organization and the only one addressing all liberty and rights issues. It was founded in 1972, is independent and nonpartisan, believes human and civil rights are universal, and leads the struggle for these issues in Israel and Occupied Palestine (OPT) through litigation, legal advocacy, education, and public outreach.

Ten years ago on UDHR's 50th anniversary, ACRI assessed the status of human rights in Israel and discovered some troubling phenomena and trends:

-- inequality,

-- social gaps,

-- human rights violations in the OPT,

-- eroding social rights,

-- increasing privatization of social services, and more.

Even so, ACRI noted that "The State of Israel has impressive achievements in the field of human rights." A decade later, ACRI concludes that troubling 1997 trends are now worse. Human rights aren't in a constitution. Israel has none. Only some are in the Basic Laws, and those apply only for Jews. Israeli Arab citizens have no rights whatever.

"The State of Israel has increasingly shirked its responsibility to ensure its citizens the most fundamental rights:"

-- to health,

-- education,

-- housing, and

-- to live in dignity.

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