Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the United Nations, slammed on Wednesday the “bullying tactics and intimidation” that led to UN withdrawal of a report accusing Israel of establishing an “apartheid regime” against the Palestinians.
Mansour’s comments were released as an Arab delegation met with the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres over the findings and repercussions of the report.
Mansour said the subject of the meeting with UN chief Antonio Guterres “was not a pleasant experience for all of us,” following the secretary-general’s order to remove the report from the UN website and the resignation of senior UN official Rima Khalaf after she refused to withdraw it.
Full copy of the report on Israeli apartheid that UN secretary-general tried to suppress on US orders https://t.co/EsPZXIx6AC
— Electronic Intifada (@intifada) March 18, 2017
“We care about the UN and the secretary-general, and we do not accept methods that are not in the culture of the United Nations,” Mansour said. “You know by that what I mean — some parties who are trying to inject bullying tactics and intimidation.”
He stressed, “It is our collective responsibility to do everything we can to defend the UN and what it stands for.”
Mansour said even though the report had been taken off the UN website “I think it is in the hands of maybe hundreds of thousands of people anyway, because of publicity about its withdrawal.”
#Palestine's Highest Medal of Honor for Rima #Khalaf https://t.co/AcjxEJHPYK via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/dTE11MUbcC
— Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) March 25, 2017
“Many people who were not even interested in the report are now interested and asking for copies, and it is provided to them,” he said.
Over the weekend, activists condemned the UN for scrapping the ESCWA report, and accused Guterres of giving in to politically motivated intimidation.
(PIC, PC, Social Media)
