A United Nations agency has published a report accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” of racial discrimination on the Palestinian people. The report was commissioned and published by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which is comprised of 18 Arab states. This is the head of the U.N. agency, Rima Khalaf.

Rima Khalaf: “The importance of this report is not only because it is the first of its kind, that is published by one of the United Nations’ bodies that clearly and frankly concludes that Israel is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people, but also it sheds light on the essence of the Palestinian cause and the conditions needed for accomplishing peace.’’

In response, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said, “The attempt to smear and falsely label the only true democracy in the Middle East by creating a false analogy is despicable and constitutes a blatant lie.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian novelist Khalida Ghosheh has been released, after Israeli forces raided her home in East Jerusalem and subjected her to hours of detention and questioning on Saturday. The acclaimed novelist says the questioning centered on her upcoming novel, “The Jackal’s Trap,” which deals with Palestinian informants working for the Israeli government in the Israeli-occupied territories. She has been released on bail and is awaiting unspecified future charges. We’ll have more on Israel and Palestine later in the broadcast.