Dr. Rima Khalaf Hunaidi:

I thank the committee for the questions on the report. The main question was why the report was stifled and how we reacted. The report was stifled because international law imposes legal obligations on all states and on the United Nations if a crime of apartheid is brought to their attention. According to international law, all states, individually and collectively, have a duty, first, not to recognise an apartheid regime as legitimate, second, not to aid or assist a country in maintaining an apartheid regime, and third, to co-operate with other states and with the United Nations body to dismantle that apartheid regime. The report brought a crime of apartheid to their attention and they wanted it to disappear because if they had knowledge of this crime, they would have to take action. The first reaction was to make it disappear.

My reaction was not to resign. I said, "The report is in front of you. If you find any flaw in the argument, if we misquoted an Israeli law or misrepresented an Israeli practice, if we arrived at any wrong conclusion, if you can point to any flaw in the analysis, I am willing to withdraw the report without asking any questions. Just point to one error." The response from all the parties involved - the United States and Israel put pressure on the Secretary General of the United Nations - was that they did not see any flaws but we had to take it off our website. Later, when the spokesperson for the Secretary General was asked about the report, he explicitly mentioned that there was no disagreement about its contents but that the issue was procedural, which is irrelevant because we followed the proper procedure. This is the background and that is why we all have a responsibility to act on the recommendations of the report.

That is why I suggested to the distinguished members of the committee that it may be worthwhile forming a working group, an investigation or a fact-finding panel to confirm beyond reasonable doubt that Israel has imposed an apartheid regime. I am not talking about punitive actions or taking measures but about establishing the facts and confirming that this is happening and that a crime is being perpetrated against the Palestinian people.