Dozens of leftist members of the French parliament have signed a draft resolution condemning the Israeli regime for practicing apartheid and committing war crimes against Palestinians.
Titled “Institutionalization of an Apartheid Regime Against the Palestinian People” the motion was endorsed by 38 members of the French National Assembly who represent a far-left coalition.
The draft resolution was originally submitted on July 13 by Communist MP Jean-Paul Lecocq but it stirred up a public debate on Friday.
Among the signatories are former presidential candidate Fabien Roussel and lawmakers from the France Proud party and the Green Party.
The draft resolution describes Israel’s government and its political system as an “institutional apartheid regime” blasting the occupation state for establishing a system of “systemic oppression and control by one group” and committing war crimes against Palestinians under occupation.
Since 1948 when the Israeli regime came into existence through illegitimate means it “has pursued a policy aimed at establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic hegemony and expanding its control over the territory for the benefit of Israeli Jews” the text reads.
The draft also states that following the Six-Day War of June 1967 “Israel extended this policy to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
“Currently all territories under Israeli control remain administered with the aim of favoring Israeli Jews at the expense of the Palestinian population while successive Israeli governments have continued to deny the right of return to Palestinian refugees for more than seven decades.”
The resolution also calls for the legalization of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign a pro-Palestine multinational organization that works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressures the Israeli regime to comply with international law.
The draft text urges “imposition of a strict arms embargo” on Israel and submission of a French-sponsored resolution to the UN Security Council that would impose “targeted sanctions such as the freezing of assets on the Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid.”
The signatories have also called on the French government to “recognize the State of Palestine.”
