A new United Nations report has compared Israel’s actions in the West Bank and Gaza to apartheid South Africa. A South African attorney named John Dugard wrote the report for the U.N. Human Rights Council. The 24-page report criticizes Israel for demolishing the homes of Palestinians, for restricting the movement of Palestinians, and for giving preferential treatment to Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Dugard said, “Israel’s laws and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories certainly resemble aspects of apartheid.” The Guardian newspaper reports Dugard’s comments represents some of the most forceful criticism from the U.N. of Israel’s 40-year occupation.