John Dugard - Dugard's 2007 Report

Dugard's 2007 Report

In a report released in February 2007, Dugard ”announced that Israel's policies resemble those of apartheid." "It is difficult to resist the conclusion that many of Israel's laws and practices violate the 1966 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination," says the report.

The findings of this report do not represent UN policy.

Referring to Israel's actions in the occupied West Bank, he wrote, "Can it seriously be denied that the purpose is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppressing them? Israel denies that this is its intention or purpose. But such an intention or purpose may be inferred from the actions described in this report."

Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid expert by the UN Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the U.S. to dismiss his reports as one-sided.

Israel's UN ambassador in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, said that the Palestinian terrorists, like al-Qaida, "intentionally target civilians with the mere purpose to kill. The fact that Professor Dugard is ignoring this essential fact, demonstrates his inability to use objectivity in his assessment. Professor Dugard will better serve the cause of peace by ceasing to enflame the hatred between Israelis and Palestinians, who have embarked on serious talks to solve this contentious situation."

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said it was "rank politicisation" of the UN's human rights apparatus. "This is the promoting of partisan, one-sided political attitudes which frankly don't serve the interests of anyone who is seriously interested in human rights."

Gerald Steinberg, in a South African radio show debate with Dugard, said, "like the black peoples of South Africa, we are reclaiming our rights. We are not going to be occupied any more; we are not going to be enslaved any more. And that history, which ...well before the so-called occupation, is never mentioned by Mr. Dugard.