U.N. report blames Israel for Palestinian terrorism 

By Bradley S. Klapper 
February 27, 2008
Chicago Sun Times
Original Source: http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/814913,CST-NWS-rael27.article
GENEVA -- A report commissioned by the United Nations says Palestinian terrorism is the ''inevitable consequence'' of Israeli occupation, a claim Israel rejected Tuesday as inflammatory.
The report -- posted on the U.N. Human Rights Council's Web site -- says that while Palestinian terrorist acts are deplorable, ''they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation.''
As long as there is occupation, there will be terrorism, says the author, John Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s.
Dugard says in the report that ''common sense ... dictates that a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by al-Qaida, and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation.''
Israel's U.N. ambassador in Geneva rejected Dugard's analysis. ''The common link between al-Qaida and the Palestinian terrorists is that both intentionally target civilians with the mere purpose to kill,'' Itzhak Levanon said.
Dugard was appointed in 2001 to investigate only violations by Israelis, prompting Israel and the U.S. to dismiss his reports as one-sided. AP
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