Planned Study by UN Body Behind 'Apartheid' Report to Compare Israel to U.S. Slavery

"The Lebanon-based United Nations agency that was recently forced to remove a report on its website accusing Israel of establishing an 'apartheid regime' will soon release another appraisal of alleged Israeli malfeasance...

The UN's Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is currently planning to publish a report that will evaluate 'the cost of the Israeli occupation' over the Palestinian territories, while looking at examples from apartheid in South Africa and slavery in the United States.

While the exact publication date is yet to be determined, it is slated to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of the1967 Six Day War this June, marking a half-century since Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights.

ESCWA's last report on Israel accused the Jewish state of a policy of apartheid against the Palestinians, the first time the term was used by the world body.

The publication was met with Israeli and American anger and it was quickly trashed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, with ESCWA head Rima Khalaf resigning in protest.

The new report, a joint project by ESCWA and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), will aim for the first time to put a dollar figure on 50 years of Israeli control of areas Palestinians claim for their own state.

The aim of the study will be to provide a framework for future reparations, which will be based on examples drawn from South Africa's apartheid regime and slavery in the United States..."