Made to retract criticism of Israel, UN official quits

By Vessim Seyfeddin

ISTANBUL

UN Under-Secretary-General Rima Khalaf resigned from her post on Friday after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres forced her to withdraw a report accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid” regime.

A Wednesday report commissioned by the UN’s Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) asserted that Israel had “established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole”.

The report went on to point to “overwhelming evidence” that Israel had committed the “crime of apartheid”.

On the same day as the report’s release, Khalaf -- who also serves as ESCWA’s executive secretary -- said the “ignorance of the international community” in recent decades had “encouraged Israel to continue its abuses of international law”.

The ESCWA report was prepared by Richard Falk, an expert in international law and a former UN human rights rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, and Virginia Tilley, a political science professor and expert in Israeli affairs.

Established in 1973 to promote economic and social development among member states, ESCWA is currently comprised of 18 Arab nations.