The head of the United Nations’ West Asia commission, Rima Khalaf, resigned over pressure to withdraw a report that was critical of Israel.
The report accused Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians. Lebanon-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which comprises 18 Arab states, published the report on Wednesday and said it was the first time a UN body had clearly made the charge.
“It was expected that Israel and its allies will exercise pressure on the UN secretary-general to distance himself from the report and that they will ask him to withdraw it,” Khalaf said at a press conference in Beirut.
Rima Khalaf, a national of Jordan, was appointed as undersecretary-general of the UN and Executive Secretary of the ESCWA by the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2010.
Before her UN role Khalaf held several high-ranking ministerial positions in Jordan, including minister of industry and Trade, minister of planning and deputy prime minister.
Khalaf also held the position of assistant secretary-general and director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2000 to 2006.
She was the founder of the award-winning Arab Human Development Report.
Khalaf holds a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s in Economics and a PhD in System Science from Portland State University in the US.
“The secretary-general issued his orders to me yesterday morning to withdraw the report. I asked him to review his position, but he insisted,” she said. “Therefore, I submitted to him my resignation from the UN.”
At the time of the publication, the report titled “Israeli Practices Toward the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid” was not on the website of the UN agency, with the link for the report now directing to a web page that consists ESCWA’s prior publications.
A UN spokesman on Friday claimed the issue with Khalaf was not the content of the report but as a result of her failure to follow the necessary procedure before the publication.
