Here, NANSEN discusses the report on the situation of Palestinians in Israel published by Amnesty International in February 2022. NANSEN examines the refugee law implications of Amnesty International’s findings that Israel operates an apartheid system. The Note discusses the probative value of Amnesty International’s report and assesses the existence of a well-founded fear of being persecuted for Palestinian applicants for international protection from Gaza, on the basis of Amnesty International’s findings.
NANSEN believes that the discriminatory treatment of the Palestinian population of Gaza by the Israeli state is of such a serious and long-standing nature that it constitutes persecution within the meaning of the Refugee Convention. For this reason, Palestinians seeking international protection should be recognised as refugees as soon as they can prove that they come from Gaza.
Furthermore, NANSEN concludes that, when assessing the subsidiary protection status for Palestinian applicants for international protection, the CGRS currently does not sufficiently take into account the vulnerability of the Palestinian population in Gaza, and in particular: the precarious humanitarian conditions prevailing there, the legal status of the Palestinians and the severely restricted freedom of movement which prevents them from escaping all forms of violence.
Read the NANSEN Note here