United Nations, February 27 (RHC)-- A senior expert at the United Nations says Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip appear to amount to “apartheid.” Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, made the remarks in a searing 22-page report to the world body’s Human Rights Council.

"Through prolonged occupation, with practices and policies which appear to constitute apartheid and segregation, ongoing expansion of settlements, and continual construction of the wall arguably amounting to de facto annexation of parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, the denial by Israel of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people is evident," the report said.

Richard Falk wrote in the report: In East Jerusalem, the "revocation of residency permits" and "forced evictions of Palestinian families," as well as targeted demolition of Palestinian homes, amounts to a "gradual and bureaucratic process of ethnic cleansing."