ISRAEE'ilm
62ndSESSION THtr GENERAL OF ASSEMBLY
CheckAgainst Delivery

Statement by Mr. GershonKedar Delegate the Fourth Committee to

FourthCommittee Agendaitem 33 "Reportof the Special Committee Investigate to Israeli Practices Affecting the HumanRightsof the Palestinian i'cople andOtherArabsof the Occupied Territories"

ljnited Nations,New York 12November 2007

Mr. Chairman, Allow me to congratulateyou once again on the manner in which you have conducted this Committee's deliberations,and I wish you much successin chairing the present meeting. It is particularly ironic that this Committee will spenda full three days debatingthe report of the misnamed Special Committee immediately following a discussionon the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly. For the work of the Special Committee is superfluous,repletewith duplication bordering on plagiarism and onesided propaganda.It is no wonder then that year after year barely one half of the entire membership supportsthe renewal of the Committee's mandate. The lack of relevance,and indeed harm, of UN organslike the SpecialCommiftee have been recognized charades at leastsome.In his speech l2 December as by of 2006, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "Some may feel satisfactionat repeatedly passing GeneralAssembly resolutions holding conferences or that condemnIsrael's behavior.But one can also ask whethersuchstepsbring any tangible relief or benefitto the Palestinians. There have beendecades resolutions. of Therehas been a proliferation of special committees, sessions and Secretariat divisions and units. Has any of this had an effect on Israel's policies, other than to strengthenthe belief in Israel, and among many of its supporters, that this great organizationis too to one-sided be allowed a significantrole in the Middle East peaceprocess?" Mr. Chairman,

Thoughthe previous question rhetorical, doubtthereis Secretary General's was I anyonein this roomtodaywho doesnot know the answer.
And so I turn to rry Palestiniancolleague,and say that when, later this week, the resolutions are passed,do not delude yourself. What you are receiving is not real support or even empathy.Rather it is little more than mere lip-service. Israel's legitimate security policies cannot be changedby theseresolutions.We will continue to promote the searchfor genuine peacebasedon transformingthe two state vision into reality. Allwho supportpeace accordingto the two-statevision should be concernedwith how one-sidedresolutions,which blindly and routinely support without reservationone party to the conflict, affect the policies of thosewho may negotiatewith us. Ask yourselves,do they contributetowards good will; do they promote genuine negotiations?Or rather, do they poison the atmosphere, createfalse hopes and encourageunrealistic demands?This is the context from which the report under discussiontoday and the plethora of resolutionsthat come in its wake should be viewed. ' Mr. Chairman, No stateis beyondcriticism, and Israel is willing to cooperate with all legitimate human rights organs,bodies,and rapporteurswhose mandatesdo not pre-determine the resultsoftheir investigations. Indeed,in recentyears,Israelhasreceivedand cooperated with the rapporteurs concerninghousing,"arbitrarykillings", displaced

persons,and health, the Special Representative the IIN Secretary-General of for children and Armed conflict, the Special Rapporteuron the promotion and Protection of Human Rights and FundamentalFreedomswhile CounteringTerrorism, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Special committee, however, is a relic from a by-gone era, and its continued existencecannot be justified morally, intellectually, or politically. The real agendaof the Committee is not to help the Palestinians, rather to do but whatever it can, through whatever means available,to harm Israel. Thus, in principle and in practice, the Committee allows itself to ignore reality, and flagrantly iefrains from dealing with human rights violations of Palestinians that are inflicted by Palestinians.Such a subject is taboo, for it contradictsthe ideological and political raison d'etre that govems the Committee. The Hamas military take-over of Gaza could not, however, be completely ignored by the Committee, and it is refened to in two full sentences the presentreport. We are in informed that factional fighting resulted in 200 dead and 1,000 injured. But the Commiffeedoesnot refer to the numerouscruel and vindictivehuman rights violations during the intra-Palestinianfighting. We are thus not informed about wounded Palestinians being shot to death while being treatedin hospitals, Palestinians being thrown to their deathsfrom high-rise buildings in Gaza,nor do we learn about the numerousand deliberate maiming of political and military rivals and their families, often by being shot in the knees.Negative statements about Palestiniansare beyond the pale for the Committee for one reasononly - namely becauseIsrael could not honestlybe blamed. Yet the Committee doesmanageto concoct a fanciful connection.Although Israel completely Ieft the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005 and was not involved in the intra-Palestinianfighting, the report blames Israel and refers to the situation as "a direct consequence the Israelioccupation".Suchlevelsof political and intellectual of bankruptcy should not be tolerated in the United Nations system. The shameful conduct of the Special Committee does not stop there.The Committee claims that its report reflects "the substanceof the information gathered"during its mission.It is, however,repletewith lies, falseclaims,and uncorroborated accusations.Moreover, the Committee patently ignores any information that doesnot fit its one-sidedideologicalagenda. Thus, it may come as no surprise thoseof us to familiar with the Committee'sdefectsand shortcomings,that while Israeli anti-terror measuresare discussed widely, the report fails to inform about Palestinianterrorism against Israel, even though this information is widely known and in the public domain. And it gets worse. An earlier report (A/611500)of the Special Committee, issuedafter last year's debatein this Committee, includes accusations that can only be described as tantamount to the worse type of anti-Semitic conspiracytheoriesthat were so common in the Middle Ages. This report includesan allegationthat "drugs and prostitutionwere allowed,if not encouraged, the occupiedSyrianGolan" to infect in clientswith HIV.

We are also informed that a "sick child died in hospital soon after receiving an injection," clearly insinuating that he died as a result of deliberatemalpractice.The parallels between such baseless claims and insinuationsand murderous lies about Jews poisoning the wells of non-Jewsand killing non-Jewishchildren for religious purposesare clear to all, except to those who are willing to give credenceto the vilest of lies as long as they fit their warped political agenda.These modern day blood-libels are outrageousand disgraceful from any source,but how much more so when they come from an organ of the llN. We can, however, find consolationin the fact that since the Special Committee is such a marginal and even trivial body, it is very unlikely that many peopleoutsidethis room have ever heard of it - never mind actually read their reports. Mr. Chairman, Notwithstanding the malicious attempts of the Special Committee to de-legitimize Israel, the United Nations has potentially much to offer both Israel and the Palestinians, we make renewedefforts to solve our differences.But its potentially as heightened relevance mitigatedby the continuedexistence the Special is of Comrnittee and other IIN organsand mandateswhose sole purposeis to serveas antiIsraeli propagandaapparatuses. My delegationcalls upon Member Statesto reject the report of the Special Committee,and bring to an end, long-overdue, ill-conceivedand even more illits managedmandate. Thank You, Mr. Chairman.