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A Palestinian woman removes freshly-baked bread from an oven in the Rafah refugee camp

Palestinian rights groups urge end to Israeli 'discrimination'

GENEVA (AFP) — The UN Human Rights Council must ensure Israel ends "institutionalised racism and discrimination" against Palestinians when it examines the Jewish state's rights record, Palestinian groups urged Wednesday.

Israel will be examined on its human rights record by the Council on Thursday under the "Universal Periodic Review" process which puts every UN member state under the spotlight.

"Institutionalised racism and discrimination on the grounds of nationality, ethnicity, race and religion are root causes of the ongoing forcible internal displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people," seven Palestinian rights groups said in a report submitted to the Council.

"In conjunction with Israel's self-identification as a Jewish and democratic state, the Palestinian citizens of Israel are afforded no constitutional protection against racial discrimination. By this Israel is failing to comply with its obligations under international human rights law," the report said.

It highlighted the situation in East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967 -- where it claimed that "the State of Israel segregates and discriminates against Palestinians in the guise of development planning."

It also criticised the extension of self-styled security zones, confiscation of agricultural land and the construction of the so-called "separation wall" between the West Bank and Israel proper.

Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank must be seen as the "oppressive and racist regime of a colonising power," the report charged.

"This regime includes many of the worst features of apartheid, such as: the fragmentation of the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories) to Jewish and Palestinian areas, the construction of the Wall and its associated regime, system of separate roads, closure and permits which restricts freedom of movement," it added.

Israel has frequently been the target of condemnatory resolutions by the 47-member Human Rights Council, leading to criticism from some Western powers that the body is overly focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict to the detriment of other rights abuses elsewhere in the world.