Published 03/31/2026 17:55 | Edited 03/31/2026 18:08
The Israeli parliament approved this Monday (30) a law that allows military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank accused of “terrorism” or killing Jewish settlers. The measure, labeled by critics as explicitly Nazi and discriminatory, does not apply to Israeli settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians — cementing an apartheid legal system that treats lives unequally under the same occupation.
Discrimination by design: two systems, two justices
The new legislation creates a legal abyss in the same territory: Palestinians residing in the West Bank — who do not have Israeli citizenship and live under military occupation — will be tried by military courts with an automatic death penalty by a simple majority of judges. Jewish settlers who kill Palestinians continue to be prosecuted in Israeli civil courts, where capital punishment does not exist and the conviction rate is just 3%, according to data from the Yesh Din group.
“It is discriminatory by design”, denounced the Israeli Civil Rights Association, which has already sued the regime’s Supreme Court. According to the B’Tselem group, 99.74% of Palestinians tried in military courts are convicted, often based on “confessions” obtained under torture. In contrast, 93.8% of investigations into settler violence are dropped without charges.
Blatant illegality: West Bank is not Israeli territory
International law experts warn that the Israeli parliament does not have the authority to legislate on the West Bank, occupied territory that was not handed over to Israel by the UN. In September 2024, the UN General Assembly called for an end to the Israeli occupation in the region, reinforcing the opinion of the International Court of Justice that classified the Israeli presence as “illegal”.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the law as a “war crime”, noting that it violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians in occupied territories and guarantees the right to fair trials. “It will turn the killing of Palestinians into an accepted and common tool of punishment,” warned B’Tselem.
Codified Apartheid: Nation-State Law as a Foundation
The measure is based on the 2018 Nation-State Law, which defines Israel as the “exclusive homeland of the Jewish people” and degrades the status of Palestinians — who make up around 20% of the population — by omitting any guarantee of equality. According to groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, this dual legal structure — military law for Palestinians, civil law for settlers — is the backbone of Israeli apartheid.
As of March 2026, around 9,500 Palestinians were detained in Israeli prisons, half of them under “administrative detention” — indefinite detention without charge or trial. Palestinian minors can be interrogated without their parents present and are denied access to legal assistance, contrary to international law.
Escalating violence: seven Palestinians killed by settlers in March
The law comes into force amid a new wave of violence: in March alone, Israeli settlers murdered seven Palestinians in the West Bank. On Sunday (30), foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom condemned the growing atrocities, but impunity remains the rule for Jewish attackers.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a national security minister with previous convictions for far-right “terrorism,” pushed for the law’s passage as a condition of the coalition agreement with Netanyahu. After the vote (62 in favor, 48 against), he was seen displaying a bottle of champagne — while Palestinians protested in the streets of Ramallah with signs against the “death law”.
COPLAC and international mobilization: “Another step in the legalization of oppression”
The Palestinian Latin American and Caribbean Confederation (COPLAC) condemned the measure: “Once again, racism, segregation and Zionist apartheid are becoming an official norm. This is not an isolated fact, but another step in the legalization of a historic policy of oppression against the Palestinian people.”
The organization demanded “immediate international condemnation” and warned that the law reinforces a system where “Palestinians live under military law, while settlers are subject to civil law — two parallel systems in the same territory, with drastically unequal protections.”
While the Israeli Supreme Court analyzes the petition against the law, the international community faces yet another test: accepting the normalization of legal apartheid or defending, in fact, that all lives have the same value. For Palestinians in the West Bank, the answer is not just legal — it is a question of survival.
Source: vermelho.org.br
