April 2, 2002
Statement by
Ambassador Kevin E. Moley
Head of the U.S. Observer Delegation
U.N. Commission on Human Rights

Item 8: "Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine"

The U.S. is deeply concerned about the continuing escalation of violence in the Middle East, and distressed to witness the suffering on both sides. We are working hard to reverse this tragic situation -- to put an end to daily scenes of Israeli and Palestinian families grieving inconsolably over their deceased loved ones.

The question before us is how best to end the violence, to strengthen respect for human rights, regardless of ethnic or religious background, and to restore peace to a troubled region.

The U.S. has been intensely engaged in diplomatic efforts to end the violence in order to make possible resumption of negotiations aimed at reaching a final settlement. U.S. Special Envoy Anthony Zinni is working with the Israeli and Palestinian political leadership in an effort to achieve a lasting ceasefire. His objective remains unchanged -- to begin implementation of the Tenet security workplan. Only through the parties' cooperation on security can a way be found to move forward on implementing the Mitchell Committee recommendations and resuming a political process. The violence makes even clearer the need for immediate, serious and sustained steps to get a ceasefire started and begin implementation of the Tenet workplan. Zinni is pressing forward and is determined to continue his mission of contacts with the parties.

In New York, the U.S. has supported balanced and constructive action by the Security Council. We introduced a resolution that was approved nearly unanimously on March 12. The resolution affirms a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side. The U.S. voted in support of another resolution adopted 14-0 by the Council March 30 addressing the latest crisis. Both resolutions demand an immediate cessation of all acts of violence and call for implementation of the Tenet security workplan and Mitchell Committee recommendations with the aim of resuming negotiations on a political settlement. They also endorse the efforts of General Zinni and other special envoys as well as the UN Secretary General. The resolutions won broad international support.

In the context of the tragic cycle of violence since September 2000, the human rights records of both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government in the occupied territories in the past year have been poor. Our 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Israel and the occupied territories, released last month, and our 2001 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, issued in October, document the actions on both sides.

The U.S. does not believe that the actions of this Commission, which cast all blame on Israel for the situation, are balanced, fair, or helpful to the cause of peace. In fact, unbalanced and polemical resolutions from international bodies such as this can inflame public opinion and make it harder to restore trust and confidence and bring the parties together. The Commission's actions therefore do not serve well the cause of alleviating human rights abuses in the area, for many of those abuses are rooted in the ongoing conflict.

We see as imbalanced the Commission's devoting an agenda item solely to the situation in the Occupied Territories when other situations of human rights concern do not receive the same attention.

Another imbalance is the Commission's appointment of a Special Rapporteur with an open-ended mandate to report on Israeli government actions in the Occupied Territories. We do not understand why this Commission has failed to extend the mandate to human rights abuses committed by the Palestinian Authority. Violations of human rights standards by the Palestinian Authority, of which both Palestinians and Israelis are victims, should not be treated differently than Israeli abuses.

Some language in this year's draft resolutions is more unbalanced and inflammatory than in the past. One resolution even seeks to give an international stamp of approval to the Palestinians' use of "all available means" to resist Israeli occupation, erroneously asserting that the right to use all available means is enshrined in the UN charter. In a year in which the international community has been united in its condemnation of international terrorism, this view casts the Commission in the position of supporting the use of terrorism and violence against Israeli civilians rather than promoting protection of human rights.

The same draft resolution meanwhile fails to acknowledge another right recognized in the UN charter, the right of any country, including Israel, to act in its own self-defense -- to protect its own citizens from attack.

In short, the U.S. does not judge that the actions of this Commission will contribute in any way to improving the situation in the Occupied Territories. Instead, the Commission's lack of balance only weakens its own credibility.

President Bush and Secretary Powell have presented a vision that was affirmed in the March 12 Security Council resolution and praised around the world -- a vision of Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side within defined and secure borders. The Tenet workplan and Mitchell Committee recommendations contain steps to bring about that vision. We urge the Members of this Commission to support such constructive diplomatic efforts and reject one-sided action by the Commission.
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