[News] UN official resigns after pressure to withdraw Israel apartheid report

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/un-official-resigns-after-pressure-withdraw-israel-apartheid-report 



  UN official resigns after pressure to withdraw Israel apartheid report

Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah>17 
March 2017

A senior United Nations official has resigned, following pressure from 
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to withdraw the landmark report 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/landmark-un-report-backs-israel-boycott> 
published earlier this week finding Israel guilty of apartheid.

Rima Khalaf, the head of the Economic and Social Commission for Western 
Asia (ESCWA) which published the report, announced her resignation at a 
press conference in Beirut on Friday.

Reuters reports <http://news.trust.org/item/20170317155911-wpmcb> that 
Khalaf took the step “after what she described as pressure from the 
secretary-general to withdraw a report accusing Israel of imposing an 
‘apartheid regime’ on Palestinians.”

“I resigned because it is my duty not to conceal a clear crime, and I 
stand by all the conclusions of the report,” Khalaf stated 
<http://www.annahar.com/article/555726-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%81-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D8%BA%D8%B7>.

As of Friday, a press release 
<https://www.unescwa.org/news/escwa-launches-report-israeli-practices-towards-palestinian-people-and-question-apartheid> 
announcing the report remained visible on the ESCWA website, but the 
link to the report itself from the press release no longer works 
<https://www.unescwa.org/publications/publications/israeli-practices-palestinian-people-apartheid-occupation>.

A full copy of the report is available below.

It concludes that “Israel has established an apartheid regime that 
dominates the Palestinian people as a whole.”

It finds “beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies 
and practices that constitute the crimes of apartheid” as defined in 
international law.

It urges national governments to “support boycott, divestment and 
sanctions activities and respond positively to calls for such initiatives.”

Palestinians warmly welcomed the report 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/palestinians-hail-un-report-declaring-israel-apartheid-state>, 
but Israel angrily denounced it as akin to Nazi propaganda. Nikki Haley, 
the US ambassador to the UN demanded that the report be withdrawn.

That demand came just as the Trump administration announced a budget 
plan 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/trump-budget-slashes-foreign-aid-not-israel> 
that includes sweeping cuts in US contributions to the UN.

Khalaf’s resignation indicates that Guterres acted obediently and 
swiftly to carry out the orders from the United States to withdraw the 
report.

The Israeli government has long targeted Khalaf for retaliation for 
doing her job. In 2014, its UN ambassador demanded she be removed from 
her post 
<http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Prosor-calls-for-UN-to-remove-official-for-anti-semitic-remark-348610> 
for criticizing Israel’s policies of occupation and Jewish colonization 
of Palestinian territory at the expense of Muslim and Christian communities.

Her resignation, under pressure to suppress factual and legal findings 
unfavorable to Israel, will send a chilling message to other UN 
officials that they are better off serving those in power than in 
upholding any mandate to advance human rights and respect for 
international law.


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