GR Editor’s Note. In a November 2013, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal condemned the State of Israel of Genocide against the people of Palestine.

by Nahida Exiled Palestinian

Words, in the battle of Liberation are of prime importance, but in the age of Internet, where Cyber Battles are waged, between truth and falsehood, the use of the right word becomes more vital than ever.

We have observed how the word, “apartheid” has crept in and has been intensely used by many Palestinians and their supporters without much reflection upon the meaning, implications or outcome of such use.

The definition of “Apartheid”

a·part·heid ( -pärt h t , -h t )

n. 1. An official policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites. 2. A policy or practice of separating or segregating groups. 3. The condition of being separated from others; segregation.

Thus, the use of apartheid to describe “Israel”, the entity which was established by terror, planned ethnic cleansing and continues to practice slow genocide is extremely inappropriate, insufficient and falls very short from giving a complete and accurate portrait.

Calling “Israel” an Apartheid is a CONCEALMENT of GENOCIDE

Calling the Zionist entity mere “apartheid”, i.e “separation”, would only serve in concealing the true genocidal nature of the Jewish state, and present it as a “normal” and “legitimate” political system with only few holes, some racist laws, and wrong policies which can be easily changed. Such use would promote the legitimization of this entity. From a legal aspect, crimes of apartheid does not carry the same weight in International Law as Crimes against Humanity,thus may be harder to prosecute.

Campaigning to demand that the existing Jewish state, would change some of its policies (rather than to call for its dismantling and delegitimisation, to end this entity, once and for all) would simply enable the usurpation of historic Palestine.

Calling for ODS (one democratic state, as a continuation of “Israel”), while ignoring the right of Palestinians to FULL LIBERATION, would enable the Zionist entity to expand and enlarge its boundaries, to encompass the ENTIRE land of Palestine, by annexing what remains of Palestine.

Calling for “equal rights” between mass-murderers and their victims, means wilful participation in wiping out the Palestinian Identity, under “Israeli” authority thus promoting giving Palestinians “israeli” citizenship, which means unwittingly promoting the “israelization” of what remains of Palestinians, i.e upgrading their state from “occupied Palestinians” to “israeli slaves”.

I call upon our people and our supporters to be alert and not to participate in whitewashing the crimes of the Jewish state, by calling it an “apartheid” rather than what it really is, a genocidal, supremacist, expansionist, ethnic-cleansing entity.

The Genocide Convention

Article 2 of the United Nations issued Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide states:

“any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such:

1. Killing members of the group; [Israel …guilty]

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; [Israel …guilty]

3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; [Israel …guilty]

4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [Israel …guilty]

5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”



Article 4 states:



Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.

Nuremberg Principles,



Principle VI. states,

“The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:

(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;

(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).