UN 'extremist' blasts Israel

By Stan Goodenough
September 27, 2005
Jerusalem Newswire 
http://www.jnewswire.com/library/article.php?articleid=767

The United Nations General Assembly, whose members have condemned Israel more than they have censored any other country on earth, this week again bore witness to fresh diatribes of anti-Israel sentiment – this time from the organization’s “Special Rapporteur” John Dugard.
Dugard, who is attached to the UN’s Commission on Human Rights, slammed Israel as “the regime of occupation” which, he claimed, continued to perpetrate major violations of Arab human rights notwithstanding Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of northern Samaria last month.
The existence of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria – the central parts of Israel’s ancient homeland – and Israel’s construction of a fence to stop Arabs from mass-murdering people in the country’s major population centers, “seriously undermine[d] the fundamental right of self-determination of the Palestinian people upon which all other rights depend,” Dugard said.
“More than 600” IDF checkpoints peppered Judea and Samaria – the rapporteur exaggerated. Ignoring the brutal realities that had forced Israel to man roadblocks near major PA population centers, Dugard said these security checkpoints only added to the hardships experienced by the “Palestinians.”
Criticizing the Palestinian Authority for human rights abuses against Jews, however, was not part of Dugard’s brief.
Israeli government sources ripped Dugard , denouncing him as an “extremist” and his report as “detached from the new reality that has been formed following the pullout.”