国連の 西アジア経済社会委員会(Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, ESCWA)が、イスラエルにおける人権状況を調査し、結果
《 イスラエルでは、
パレスチナ人を抑圧するアパルトヘイト政策
が採られている 》
という告発のレポートを纏め、発表した。
（→ "UN report: Israel has established an 'apartheid regime'"）
ところが、これが、政治的圧力によって、潰されてしまった。
同委員会の Rima Khalaf 委員長が、これに抗議の辞任をした。
このニュース、日本・米国・英国の主要メディアは伝えていない。
私はこのニュースを、Al Jazeera（الجزيرة）（英語版）、フランスの Le Monde 紙、スペインの El país 紙で知った。Al Jazeera（الجزيرة） とは、アラブ系メディアである。従来からの欧米キリスト教文化圏中心の視点とは異なるメディアが必要だという趣旨で、カタールの首長の支援を受けて設立されたものである。フランス・スペインのメディアは、パレスチナ問題では、概ね 中立な立場を保ち、フェアな報道を続けていると思う。
(→ 夫々のニュースは こちら： Al Jazeera 、 Le Monde 、 El país)
英米のメディアがこのニュースに対し、「報道しない自由」を行使するのは判るが、日本のメディアまでがこのニュースを扱わないのは酷いのではないのだろうか。
－－－（以下は、Al Jazeera（الجزيرة） の記事）－－－
UN official resigns over Israel apartheid report
ESCWA leader Rima Khalaf says she resigns after UN leaders forced her to withdraw a report accusing Israel of apartheid.
The head of the United Nations' West Asia commission, Rima Khalaf, has resigned over what she described as the 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 on Friday.
"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."
Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Beirut, said that Khalaf clearly stated that she was still standing by the report, which in very explicit terms accused Israel of pursuing apartheid policies in the Palestinian territories.
"The Israeli government was very critical of the report even describing it as 'Nazi Propaganda' and one would imagine that they made it very clear to the UN leadership that that is how they saw it," the Al Jazeera correspondent said.
"So, one would also imagine that is perhaps why the UN secretary general is demanding this report to be withdrawn from ESCWA website."
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 .
"This is not about content, this is about process," said UN chief Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
"The secretary-general cannot accept that an under-secretary-general or any other senior UN official that reports to him would authorise the publication under the UN name, under the UN logo, without consulting the competent departments and even himself," he told reporters.
Al Jazeera's Tyab said it was "highly unlikely" that the UN leadership was unaware of the report's existence or the language inside it before its publication.
"The curious thing here is that Al Jazeera and many other news organisations had been aware of this report for several days now," he said.
"In fact most news organisations were invited to the press conference that was held around 24 hours ago where this report was released and members of the media were also given an embargoed advance look at this report.
"So it is very curious that the UN is now saying that the official procedures hadn't been followed, that they were not aware of the language inside the report, when even many in the media were aware of its publication and its contents."
"This feels like yet another chapter in the very strained and complicated relationship the UN has with Israel."