United Nations Human Rights Council Resolutions Condemn Only Israel, Diplomats Say

The New York Sun:

"UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Human Rights Council will end its second regular session this week by voting to pass two resolutions condemning Israel and may approve 'balanced' measures on other countries where human rights are violated, diplomats in Geneva said yesterday.

The council is expected to hear reports today by several envoys, known as 'rapporteurs,' who during the last session were sent on missions to Lebanon and Israel. The special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, will report only on the human rights situation in Lebanon; he did not even visit Israel on his trip to the region.

Last week, the rapporteur John Dugard issued a report to the council on the situation in Gaza. After Israel turned the area over to the Palestinian Arabs, it transformed Gaza into a 'prison,' he said. 'In other countries this process might be described as ethnic cleansing, but political correctness forbids such language where Israel is concerned,' he added.

Amnesty International, usually a critic of Israel, has chided members of the council for focusing on what it termed their 'narrow political objectives.' And Human Rights Watch has said the new council's 'one-sided approach' on the Israeli-Arab dispute is a 'blow to its credibility and an abdication of its responsibility to protect human rights for all.' "