UN envoy: It's all the Jews' fault
Suggests Israelis, not the Arabs, are the real terrorists

By Ryan Jones
March 9, 2006
Jerusalem Newswire
Original Source: http://www.jnewswire.com/library/article.php?articleid=1020	


Almost completely disregarding Palestinian Arab aggression against Israel's Jews, a United Nations envoy has sought to lay the blame for regional conflict at the doorstep of the Jewish state by misrepresenting and exaggerating Israel's defensive measures and isolated acts of frustration.

In a special report prepared for next week's annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission, South African lawyer John Dugard charged:

It seems that settlers are able to terrorize Palestinians and destroy their trees and crops with impunity.

What he failed to mention, however, are the innumerable stoning, shooting and bombing attacks carried out against the Jewish settlers by the hostile Arab population surrounding them.  Often those attacks are launched from the cover of olive groves and fruit orchards, prompting frustrated and threatened Israelis to take matters into their own hands.

Dugard also criticized official Israeli defensive measures both in Gaza and the West Bank.

Regarding Israel's tight border restrictions, sonic booms, artillery fire and targeted killings in and around Gaza, Dugard said they:

Serve as a constant reminder to the people of Gaza that they remain occupied.

Left out of the equation were the hundreds of rockets and mortar shells that have been fired from Gaza at nearby Negev towns and villages since Israel withdrew from the Strip last summer.  Nearly 500 Kassam rockets have been fired since the beginning of this year alone.

That no Jews have been killed in these bombardments apparently made them irrelevant to Dugard.

In Judea and Samaria, Dugard took issue with Israel's security fence, which he said:

Has come to symbolize Israeli territorial expansion and oppression.

Again focusing on the result rather than the cause, Dugard seemingly forgot about the years of weekly suicide bomb attacks emanating from Judea and Samaria that Israel has been made to endure over the past decade.  Controversial as it may be on both the left and right of the political spectrum, the fence has managed to largely curb the threat of suicide bombings, saving numerous Israeli lives.

Israeli envoy to the UN Itzhak Levanon told the Associated Press in response that Dugard's report is:

Misinformed and inaccurate... [and] guided by a clear political agenda, and bears little relation either to the facts or existing principles of international law.

Israel likely has little to worry about, as Dugard's credibility among the Jewish state's true allies has deteriorated about as far as has that of the Human Rights Commission to which he reports.

According to the Associated Press, UN member states are considering replacing the commission, which has come under growing criticism for allowing a number of brutal dictatorial regimes to use their seat on the commission as a shield against condemnation for their actions.