Khalaf calls for international coalition to end Israeli ‘apartheid regime’

AMMAN — Rima Khalaf, former executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), on Tuesday called for the formation of an Arab-global coalition to combat Israel’s “apartheid regime” .

Speaking at a seminar organised by the committee of women engineers in the Jordan Engineers Association in Amman, Khalaf called for international partners to adopt the findings of an ESCWA report released in March which characterised Israel as an “apartheid regime”. 

Following the March publication, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had distanced himself from the report and ordered its removal from UN websites, subsequently prompting Khalaf to resign in protest. 

The coalition should gather all institutions, organisations and commissions to combat Israel’s "apartheid regime", based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international agreements to combat systems of apartheid, the former UN diplomat said. During the seminar attended by the association's President Majid Tabba, Khalaf said "the occupation commits crimes against humanity" and the world should "stand up to stop them", adding that the report debunked three "false assumptions" related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

According to Khalaf, the first false assumption is that Palestinians' suffering started in 1967, while the report showed it started well before. Second is that the best solution is a two-state solution, but the report also challenged this narrative, saying that the conflict will only end "when the Israeli apartheid ends" and Palestinians refugees are allowed to return to their land. 

The third false assumption, Khalaf said, was that Israel only fails to abide by UN resolutions. In fact, she said, Israel is "committing a crime", that of "apartheid", which requires international cooperation to force its immediate halt.