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PLO condemns UN for removing report accusing Israel of apartheid

Sunday, 19 March 2017 2:29 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 19 March 2017 2:29 AM ]

Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) has condemned the UN for revoking a report accusing Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians.

"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,” said PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi on Saturday.

On Friday, a senior United Nations official, Jordanian Rima Khalaf, resigned due to coercive measures used against her to withdraw the UN report which was taken down from UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) website.

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Ashrawi stated that the report was “a step in the right direction” which “highlights the true reality on the ground which is one of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and military occupation.”

She also called on UN Secretary General Antonio 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.”

Khalaf, who was appointed as under-secretary general and executive secretary at the ESCW by Ban Ki-moon, the former UN secretary general, said Guterres had forced her to resign.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki (Photo by AP)

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki also voiced deep regrets that Khalaf was forced to resign and expressed his “unequivocal objection” over the removal of the report.

“This has far-reaching negative consequences for the international system as we know…Trying to scrap the report will not scrap the reality it describes,” he added.

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