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UN Palestine expert criticised for boycott call

October 26, 2012 13:16
Susan Rice (Photo: AP)

By

Jennifer Lipman,

Jennifer Lipman

1 min read

The UN official who posted an antisemitic cartoon on his personal blog last year has urged the international community to boycott companies with links to settlements.

The US, the UK and Israel have criticised UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk over the boycott call, with the US envoy to the UN stating that such action would not further the progress of a peace deal.

Mr Falk, whose role refers specifically to human rights in the Palestinian territories, listed firms including Hewlett Packard and Motorola, Veolia Environment and the Volvo Group in his comments.

He told the General Assembly that any company that is involved in the creation of maintenance of settlements should be subject to a boycott by the UN and civil society "until they bring their operations into line with international human rights and humanitarian law and standards".