B’Tselem under fire for planned UN presentation on settlements

Source: Times of Israel

Israeli group will ‘lay out the reality of the occupation’ at meeting for representatives of all 15 Security Council members

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem faced criticism Thursday for its scheduled participation in a United Nations Security Council forum debate on Israeli settlements, where it says it will “lay out the reality of the occupation.”

The meeting, set to be held on Friday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, is titled “Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution,” and will include presentations from B’Tselem executive director Hagai El-Ad, Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now and Prof. Francois Dubuisson of the Free University of Brussels.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon slammed B’Tselem’s planned presentation at the forum, saying the group would be “providing moral cover for anti-Israel activities at the UN.” In a separate statement, Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid described the group’s participation as “a declaration of divorce” from Zionism.

The forum will be hosted by Malaysia along with Egypt, Senegal, Angola and Venezuela, and will focus on “a wide range of issues emanating from or caused by the Israeli settlement activities,” according to Malaysian media sources. The meeting was reportedly requested by the Palestinian delegation to the UN.

Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/btselem-under-fire-for-planned-un-presentation-on-settlements/