Lawmakers want U.N. Palestinian bodies nixed

November 22, 2005
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Original Source: http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=103

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Top members of the U.S. Congress urged the “Quartet” working for Mideast peace to back a U.S. proposal to abolish U.N. bodies dedicated to the Palestinians. Letters sent Monday by Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) said the bodies “are nothing more than U.N.-funded propaganda organs dedicated exclusively to the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel.” 
The Bush administration has proposed abolishing the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division of Palestinian Rights. The congress members, all senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee, also proposed doing away with the Special Committee to investigate Israeli human rights practices affecting the Palestinian people. 
The “Quartet,” made up of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, guides the “road map” peace process. The letters were sent to U.N. representatives of France, Britain and Germany — the three most powerful E.U. members — and Russia.