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Tuesday 23 December 2008

If a UN Special Rapporteur can be humiliated…

(Anilnetto) If a United Nations Special Rapporteur from the United States can be humiliated this way, what hope do the suffering citizens of Gaza, which now resembles a vast open-air prison camp, have?

This report from The Guardian:

My expulsion from Israel

When I arrived in Israel as a UN representative I knew there might be problems at the airport. And there were

by Richard Falk

On December 14, I arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel to carry out my UN role as special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories.

I was leading a mission that had intended to visit the West Bank and Gaza to prepare a report on Israel’s compliance with human rights standards and international humanitarian law. Meetings had been scheduled on an hourly basis during the six days, starting with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, the following day.

I knew that there might be problems at the airport. Israel had strongly opposed my appointment a few months earlier and its foreign ministry had issued a statement that it would bar my entry if I came to Israel in my capacity as a UN representative. Full article here.

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