The Jordanian Civil Society Organizations Coordination Committee (Himam) condemns the Israeli Knesset’s adoption of the so-called “Death Penalty Law for Palestinian Prisoners,” and considers it a new legislative crime added to the occupation state’s long record of violating international law, as well as an extremely dangerous step in the process of consolidating the system of settler colonialism and apartheid imposed on the Palestinian people.
اضافة اعلان
This law is not an ordinary judicial measure, but rather an instrument of political and racial vengeance, designed to target Palestinians and strip them of the most basic guarantees of a fair trial and the right to life. It is, therefore, a profoundly discriminatory law that reflects the structural nature of Israeli racism and confirms that the occupation state is moving forward in transforming racial discrimination into an official and openly declared legislative system.
Himam affirms that the Palestinian people, as a people living under occupation and colonial domination, possess an inherent and inalienable right to resist the Israeli occupation by all means recognized under international law, foremost among them the struggle for national liberation, self-determination, and the end of occupation. Accordingly, criminalizing this right through repressive and retaliatory legislation does not alter the fact that the occupation is the root crime, and that resisting it is a legitimate right guaranteed by the well-established rules and principles of international law.
Himam believes that the adoption of this law constitutes a dangerous escalation and sends a direct message that the Israeli occupation state is not content with committing grave violations against Palestinians, but is also seeking to legalize them and provide them with internal legal cover, in blatant defiance of the international community, United Nations resolutions, and the principles of justice and human rights.
Himam holds the international community responsible for its inaction and calls for an end to the policy of double standards that has provided the Israeli occupation state with an international political shield, encouraging it to persist in its violations. It also calls on the United Nations, human rights bodies, and states committed to the rule of law to act immediately to pressure the occupation state to repeal this law, halt its grave violations, hold it accountable for its crimes, and seriously work toward ending the Israeli occupation in accordance with international law, in a manner that guarantees the Palestinian people their right to freedom, dignity, and self-determination.
