The Palestinian Presidential adviser for Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Nabil Shaath, has awarded Palestine’s Highest Medal of Honor to Rima Khalaf, the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and has praised her courage in standing up against those who pressured her to withdraw the committee’s report which stated that Israel had established “an apartheid regime.”
“President Abbas’s decision to honor Khalaf is a bold step and a challenge to those who pressured the Secretary-General to withdraw the report, and a message that confirms what Ms. Khalaf has done is absolutely right and deserves the highest Palestinian medal,” Shaath said in an interview with Palestine TV.
“A UN official who does not have the courage to stand up to US pressure would lack credibility,” he said.
UN's Rima Khalaf: today's catastrophes result from injustices that were ignored, plastered over, or openly endorsed https://t.co/1rGYA29RDH
— If Americans Knew (@ifamericansknew) March 21, 2017
Shaath stressed that withdrawal of the complete report from the UN official website will not affect the reality of its content. He stressed the need to publish and distribute its findings widely.
He added that the report, which discusses Israel’s violation of international law, has been withdrawn in a bid to protect Israel from a ‘scandal’.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
