Flags of the U.N., Palestine were placed on the central stage. United Nations
Photo: AFP
Israel wiped off map in U.N. event
Map of Israel from which all communities were wiped off displayed at official U.N. event to mark solidarity with Palestinians. Organization's Secretary General Kofi Annan attended ceremony, calls incident 'regretful'
Palestinian propaganda in the United Nations? The Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, who recently attended an official public event at the organization's headquarters two weeks ago, was unaware of the fact that he was taking part in a propaganda campaign against Israel, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.
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The ceremony was held on November 29 this year, to mark the historic date in which the U.N. General Assembly in 1947 voted in favor of a resolution that adopted the plan for the partition of Palestine.
Over the years, November 29 became a day of "solidarity with the Palestinian people" in the U.N., in which anti-Israeli events take place.
The particular event in question was organized by the Palestinian delegation in the U.N. and the Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa, and hosted all of the organization's high ranking officials.
During preparations for the event, the flags of the U.N. and Palestine were placed on the central stage, and a map depicting the territory of Israel was hung on the wall behind it.
'Not an official U.N. map'
However, the map was titled 'Palestine' instead of 'Israel', and all Israeli communities have been curiously erased from it.
Annan, who during the event sat on stage under the map and addressed the audience, apparently failed to notice its peculiarity.
The secretary was nevertheless caught on camera by reporters and photos from the ceremony were later released to the press, caught the attention of several of the young Jewish members of the Hudson Institute's Eye on the U.N. organization, who brought the incident to Annan's attention.
The U.N. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Yedioth Ahronoth on Monday that "the map that was displayed at the event is not an official U.N. map. Secretary General Annan believes it was regretful that the map was in the room during his speech. We have informed the event's organizers that such an incident should be prevented from repeating in the future."
