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UN official Rima Khalaf announces resignation over 'Israel apartheid' report

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LEBANON: Jordanian UN official Rima Khalaf announced her resignation on Friday, saying the secretary-general had asked her to withdraw a report in which she accused Israel of being an "apartheid state".

Khalaf, under-secretary general and executive secretary at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), told a news conference: "The secretary general asked me yesterday morning to withdraw (the report). I asked him to rethink his decision, he insisted, so I submitted my resignation from the UN."

Her resignation comes after the United States on Wednesday demanded that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres withdraw an ESCWA report accusing Israel of imposing apartheid on the Palestinians.

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