More than 90 percent of the Palestinians living in the occupied territories have experienced racist labeling, a survey has found.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Monday cited the Israeli daily Maariv that the result of the survey conducted by the Israeli Racism Crisis Center (RCC) was published on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination observed annually on March 21.
According to the results, 69 percent of the respondents believe they were subject to racism and discrimination in public places, while 41 percent said they had a similar experience in academic institutions.
The survey found that the most cases of discrimination occurred at airports, followed by academic institutions, workplaces, and malls and shopping centers.
More than 65 percent of the respondents said their identification cards were checked in public places; 59 percent were subject to security inspections and 58 percent were forced to answer unusual questions by the security guards.
The director of the RCC, Samah Darwish, said in an interview that the results of the survey illustrated the extent of racism in the occupied Palestinian territories. “This should concern everyone.”
Last year, more than 600 scholars, artists, and intellectuals from over 45 countries across the world censured the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, calling for an immediate end to “Israel’s apartheid regime.”
In July 2018, Israel’s parliament (Knesset) adopted a controversial bill that declares the occupying entity as the so-called “nation-state of the Jewish people.” The law prioritizes “Jewish” values over democratic ones in the occupied territories, declares al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel, allows Jewish-only communities, sets Hebrew as the official language of Israel, and relegates Arabic from an official language to one with “special status.”
