According to Israeli journalist and author Gideon Levy, the Israeli army has been committing “war crimes” routinely in the occupied Palestinian territories for 55 years, not only during times of war, and the only way for the occupation to end is for the Tel Aviv government to start “paying the price”, Anadolu Agency reports.

Levy, a writer for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, is one of the few voices in his country opposing the occupation and describing Israel as a “racist regime”.

Describing the previous state of Israeli society as “bad enough,” Levy told Anadolu Agency that in the last one and a half months, the society has shifted even more towards “racism.”

Expressing the view that a positive change towards peace is not possible to come from Israeli society, Levy stated: ‘It (the peace) will not come from Israeli society. Israelis will not wake up one morning and say, ‘The occupation is too cruel, apartheid (racist regime) is illegal, let’s put an end to this.’“

Read the full report here.