Palestinians give award to UN official who condemned Israel

The Palestinian president has awarded his people's highest honor to a former UN official who was forced to resign last week after authoring a report that accused Israel of establishing an "apartheid regime." The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said today that President Mahmoud Abbas had spoken to Rima Khalaf by phone and given her Palestine's Medal of the Highest Honor in recognition of her "courage and support" for the Palestinian people.

A statement said Abbas "stressed to Dr Khalaf that our people appreciate her humanitarian and national position." Khalaf, a UN undersecretary-general, resigned on Friday after refusing to withdraw her report for the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)