Palestine Protests Biased UN Reporting
UNITED NATIONS - The Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations has lodged a formal protest against the continued “misrepresentation” of facts in recent U.N. reports on the Israeli-occupied territories.
“There has been a tendency in several reports to portray the prevailing situation (in the occupied territories) as more of a conflict between two equal sides — the Israeli and Palestinian — rather than actually one of occupation,” says Ambassador Riyad Mansour, in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The “skewed” reporting, including “certain language usage that overlooks the existence of this occupation, is unacceptable,” he says, virtually accusing the U.N. Secretariat of trying to undermine the Palestinians by its misreporting.
Mansour’s letter to the secretary-general also says: “For sometime now, the delegation of Palestine has been troubled by misrepresentations in several U.N. reports in the recent period, including some issued by the secretary-general, that have had the effect of skewing the context of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”
He points out that Palestinian territories are under an “occupying power”, namely Israel, which is bound by clear obligations under international law, including humanitarian and human rights law.
The Palestinians, he points out, are an occupied people, “whose most basic and inalienable rights are being systematically and gravely violated and who are entitled to protection under international law.”
The charges against the U.N. Secretariat follow an accusation by the U.N.’s former Middle East envoy, Under-Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto, who said the world body, including the U.N. Secretariat, was, wittingly or unwittingly, undermining the goal of a Palestinian state.
In a 52-page confidential report to the secretary-general last June, de Soto accused former Secretary-General Kofi Annan of “hampering” de Soto’s efforts to maintain regular political contacts with Hamas leaders.
De Soto said he has little or no faith in the Middle East Quartet — a group comprising the United States, European Union, the U.N. and Russia — which is said to provide a political “shield” for the United States and the EU to bankrupt the Palestinian government.
“Even-handedness has been pummeled into submission,” said de Soto, whose official title was U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.
He also said that Ban and Annan provided political cover to the United States and the European Union in their efforts to marginalise Hamas despite its electoral victories in the occupied territories.
In his letter to Ban Tuesday, Mansour also challenges the “misleading information” in a report by the Secretariat to the Security Council.
The report says that “a particularly worrying trend is the increasing resort to suicide attacks in places, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Somalia.”
But according to statistics provided by several agencies and international organisations, including the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, he said, Israeli civilian deaths from suicide attacks have steadily decreased: from 24 in 2005, to 10 in 2006 and 5 in 2007.
“We are troubled by statements that are totally false,” the letter notes.
Asked for an official response, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told IPS that Under-Secretary-General John Holmes, U.N. emergency coordinator, in his presentation to the Security Council Tuesday, corrected any misleading impression that could be given by a sentence in a report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
Haq said the report was intended to say that suicide attacks are a feature in an increasing number of countries.
“The point that the report wishes to make is that such attacks are being carried out in an increasing number of countries (including Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Somalia)”.
“It was not the U.N.’s intention to assert that there has been an increase in the actual number of suicide attacks in the countries mentioned,” he added.
Addressing the Security Council Tuesday on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in conflict zones, Holmes told delegates that “the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza, is reaching the limits of what is bearable for any community.”
“The combination of access restrictions, even for humanitarian deliveries, economic deprivation, Israeli military incursions and aerial attacks, and intra-Palestinian violence, is driving the civilian population into a situation where the risk of provoking even more violence and tragedy is only too evident,” Holmes warned.
© 2007 Inter Press Service
The bias in reporting the suffering of the Palestinians is so incredible. Those people have suffered terribly, yet they are always made out to be the bad guys. I understand why they seek violence as an alternative.
Feel compassion for Israel.
They are incredibly stupid.
Here they are once again–putting off a peace deal because it wants a land grab.
They seem to think some big invisible old man in the sky is going to bail them out of any problem they cause because they are the one true god’s chosen people.
I really suspect that it wont work the way they plan it will.
Its likely the US will collapse as a power and China will gain more influence.
China doesnt have an affinity for jewish history and mythology or nazi guilt.
Plus weapon technology will continue to diversify and arab groups will have access to things that can hurt Israel short of a nuke.
Israel cannot use nukes without hurting itself.
What is it going to do? Nuke Gaza?
It was in trouble in 73, it lost 2 wars in Lebanon(which it started).
So its in an untenable position. Eventually it will have to either allow the non jewish population to resume its dominance or it will be obliterated by a war.
They just never took Gandhi’s advice about the folly of forcing yourself on another people.
Mind you–the Palestinians are doing a terrible job themselves. They should have run Abbas out of government months ago–he’s obviously a collaborator. I dont think israel was wrong in describing arabs as woefully disunited, though it doesnt help that many of their authoritarian governments are propped up by Western powers.
And here we are in America celebrating Thanksgiving with an overwhelming abundance of food and the Palestinians are starving…largely by our own hands for not speaking out and allowing our tax dollars to fund apartheid…we must stand up to AIPAC. AIPAC is unAmerican!
The worlds largest open air prison, Gaza, is literally being starved and choked to death by Israel and us (U.S.). This is genocide any which way you look at it. Its premeditated and the intent is to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza. We should give this a serious thought while we tuck into our deep fried turkeys …
The U.N. ofcourse becomes even more irrelevant every day … its been co-opted by the West.
Even-handedness?! Don’t make me laugh.
The U.N. headquarters is correctly located. It’s “even-handedness” is about as real as the sham of freedom and democracy in the self-proclaimed “greatest democracy on earth.”
I always thought that the UN was run and controlled by the same SHAMS that run and control Washington. If FDR were alive today, he’d abolish it and rebuilt it.
Thanks to the internet, it is now harder for the offending bodies (the United States and Israel) to get away with this crap! What have the Palestinians ever done to the world, that the world treats them this way? This is sickening. People in the Israeli occupied territories are starving! Shame on the world for allowing this! Where is justice for the Palestinians? Where?
The UN reporting appears to be consistent with the U.S. media mantra: Palestinian violence is terrorism; Israeli violence is self-defense.
And, no, there is no occupation. god gave that land to the Jews.
Anyone who condones the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel has their moral compass severely out of whack. I feel like vomiting everytime I realize that my tax dollars are making it all possible.
Down with Israel, the apartheid state, the racist, genocidal state creates by ethnic cleansing.
mike savage a typical israeli idiot? i’m confused, are all israelis idiots like mike savage or are you just saying that the typical israeli idiot is like mike savage? because, wow, an entire population a bunch of idiots…that’s quite a statement. i mean it might be true, you never know, should we give them all I.Q. tests or something? and wait a minute, i thought mike savage was an american, so are americans then typical israeli idiots? should we give all of us I.Q. tests?
mike savage is a typical israeli idiot with dual loyalty & dual citizenship.
It is outrageous that the un has to be told what their basic job is & how to do it.
The israelis are so good at propaganda they have the whole world believing that they are the victim of the current occupation.
Israel needs to be dismantled & Israelis should either move 9(mostly back to America and Russia oragree to live in one state with equal rights for all - no more religious preference.
The zionist nightmare needs to be unplugged from US financial life support.
bellthecat, so my apologies, savage has dual citizenship and is typical of israelis in that he is an idiot. am i right there?
but, what do you mean that israelis should either move or agree to live in one state with equal rights for all? how many israelis have to agree? and what state would that be?
This is just the tip of the cake you all. Think of how much more goes on if all we hear about is some quotes about a mis-spoken analogy regarding someone else’s flawed interpretation designed to misguide the people farthest from the situation. I hate them all. Their sex club I hear is nice though.
Just tell their wives! HEE HEE!
Israel and the U.S. really treat Arabs badly. No wonder there’s so much hatred for them — they’re both racist countries.
First off, I have to say that I agree with much of the posted commentary. However, let’s not “hate”. Israel is a fact on the ground. Plain and simple. Israelis are people, just like us. To assume the people of an entire country are racist is plain wrong. To force a political arrangement on Israel, one that will mean the end of the “zionist” dream of a Jewish state is unrealistic.
All this being said, I am no supporter of Israel or the American agenda in the region. But the reality is that democracies, even corrupt ones, are subject to the whims of their voters. And voters in the US will remain ignorant of world events until the media giants lose their monopoly. That won’t happen as long as the levers to power are in their hands thanks to the current marriage between lobbying and campaign financing. And so, as Naomi Klein proposes, the only way to effect change in a situation such as this is through a national “shock”. One such shock would be the sudden devaluation of the American dollar as a form of international sanction. This may already be happening… Get people mad enough and they may actually vote for a Dennis Kucinich. Then there will be wholesale change, and the Palestinian issue will become the soluable problem it should be in the scale of global issues (such as global warming, aids, etc.).
In the meantime, something that will give the Israeli/American agenda pause, and keep them from going on a rampage when the other shoe drops, is nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran, Syria, and other stable Mid-East powers.
Power to the People.
so let me get this straight..nuclear proliferation is a good thing? the answer to the mid-east dilemna is for iran, syria, and other “stable” powers to have nuclear weapons…the more the merrier?
and this is why? because israel is the worst human rights abuser in the middle east? is it?
name one country in this area that has a better human rights record than israel. iran? egypt? jordan? lebanon (ask the palestinian refugees if they’re having fun in lebanon yet)? syria? oh yea, saudi arabia has a better human rights record, because it’s ok to whip and imprison rape victims, as long as it isn’t the israelis doing it.
power to the people indeed.
The influence of Israeli lobbyist on US Middle East policy is criminal. As stated previously, Michael Mukasey, our AG and Michael Chertoff, of Homeland Security fame, are duel citizens of the US and Israel. Their allegiance is questionable, but since no congress critters asked, who knows. The US is rapidly becoming a maxi-Zionist state complete with the same methods the US military incorporates in Iraq that Israel uses against the Palestinians; kicking down doors, placing children is prisons, and using kids as human shields to protect troops in hostile zones. The US and Israel are, perhaps, the only two major powers that construct security walls. Many of the “walls” between the US and Mexico have been contracted to Israeli firms, thanks to Michael Chertoff. In this the Age of Terrorism, human rights have been suspended indefinitely.
Okay, I think I get it now. Because Saudi Arabia violates human rights, it’s okay for Israel to. Two wrongs make a right. Wow. Words of wisdom. The U.S. also violates human rights. Think Iraqi genocide. Only Israel has the right to have nuclear weapons to defend itself. Thank you, Dude.
lillulu…i’m sorry, i reread my quote and you got it right, i truly believe that only israel has the right to have nuclear weapons to defend itself, thanks for reading into what i said so accurately to catch that.
no one should have nuclear weapons, doesn’t that make sense? so hoping that other countries obtain nukes because israel has them isn’t really taking us in the right direction. or does that not make sense to you?
and “two wrongs don’t a right?” what is that? is that what you took from my post? go to humanrightswatch.org and read up on the countries in the middle east. not a pretty situation. especially for women or children or minorities or gays.
They hate us for our Freedoms?
Can you imagine the Bush administration saying such ridiculous nonsense about why 911 happened?
No they hate us because we have stopped being an honest broker between Palestine and Israel.
We decided to ignore the Palestinians and allowed Israel to callously dominate the region and expand their illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.
The entire Arab world and especially Bin Laden saw that America was complicit in helping Israel turn Palestine into a concentration camp.
This is what led to 911.
the US government was NEVER ‘an honest broker between Palestine and Isael’. The US government has ALWAYS been biased in this case, and will continue to be, escpecially if Clinton gets into office.
actually the reasons why they hate us are pretty complex. the average person in the middle east may hate us because our policies have favored israel over the palestinians. they may also hate us because we help prop up some of the regimes that are keeping the average arab in crushing poverty. those same regimes that we help keep in power want us to be hated by their people because it’s better to hate the u.s. and israel than it is to hate the saud family or assad or mubarak (sp.?)or any of the other oppressive governments in the area.
remember we helped keep the saudis in power during ww2, we needed their oil and turned a blind eye to the way they were treating their people.
the situation is not as black and white as folks want to make it. but that makes it tough to point the finger at the bad guys, because we don’t have enough fingers do we?
“No they hate us because we have stopped being an honest broker between Palestine and Israel.
We decided to ignore the Palestinians and allowed Israel to callously dominate the region and expand their illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.
The entire Arab world and especially Bin Laden saw that America was complicit in helping Israel turn Palestine into a concentration camp. ”
Yeah, right. Do you have any idea how the Palestinians are treated by the Arabs? The US gives more aid to the Palestinians than all of the Arab states combined. BTW dude, there are no more settlements in Gaza. Israel evacuated them.
And I don’t remember any concentration camps getting billions of dollars in aid.
“This is what led to 911.”
You are a moron.
“What have the Palestinians ever done to the world, that the world treats them this way?”
Ummm…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_terrorism