UN pulls report on ‘apartheid Israel’

AFTER the head of a UN agency resigned from her post, citing pressure from the UN secretary-general to censor a new report that accused Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians, Palestinian officials denounced the UN for removing the report.

Head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (Escwa) Rima Khalaf resigned on Friday, telling reporters in Beirut that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had insisted on the withdrawal of the damning report, which was no longer on Escwa’s website.

Khalaf stood by the report, calling it the “first of its kind” from a UN agency that sheds light on “the crimes that Israel continues to commit against the Palestinian people, which amount to war crimes against humanity”.

Escwa, which comprises 18 Arab states, said in the report Israel was guilty “beyond reasonable doubt” of imposing apartheid policies on Palestinians.

Israeli officials were quick to denounce it, comparing it to Nazi propaganda and calling for Guterres to publicly reject it.

Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi condemned the decision by the UN to remove the report in a statement on Saturday.

“Instead of succumbing to political blackmail or allowing itself to be censured or intimidated by external parties, the UN should condemn the acts described in the report and hold Israel responsible,” she said.

The PLO official lauded the report as “a step in the right direction” that she said “highlights the true reality which is one of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and military occupation”.

Ashrawi called on Guterres “to do what is right, reinstate the Escwa report and undertake serious and concrete measures to hold Israel accountable for its persistent violations of international law and human rights”.

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki reacted with “deep regret” that Khalaf had to resign. – Ma’an