http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20010328_1504.html
U.S. RIGHTS INVESTIGATOR SLAMS MIDEAST VETO
Reuters, 3/28/2001
GENEVA, March 28 (Reuters) - A U.S. investigator of alleged Israeli
human rights violations in the Palestinian territories criticised
Washington on Wednesday for vetoing a plan to send unarmed U.N.
observers to protect Palestinians.
Richard Falk, a member of a three-man U.N. team sent to look into the
charges against Israel, said he and his colleagues were disappointed
by the veto and said Washington had failed in its legal and moral
duty.
"One needs an international monitoring presence and there is a moral
and legal responsibility on the part of the United Nations to
establish such a presence," Falk said.
"So it is with considerable disappointment that we view this veto and
hope that the United States government will reconsider in the light of
the realities of the situation."
Falk, professor of International Relations at Princeton University,
was speaking at a news conference by the three members of the U.N.
investigating team.
In a report issued last week for the U.N. Human Rights Commission the
team said Israel was guilty of widespread rights violations in the
current conflict.
Their report called for the establishment of an international presence
to protect Palestinian civilians against Israeli security forces and
settlers, a proposal also backed by U.N. Human Rights Commissioner
Mary Robinson.
EU ENVOYS FAVOUR OBSERVERS
The United States cast its veto in the Security Council in New York on
Tuesday against a resolution to send unarmed observers. Nine
countries including Russi and China backed the resolution but four
West European countries abstained.
Falk and his colleagues -- South African professor John Dugard and
former Bangladesh prime minister Kamal Hossain -- said consultations
with EU envoys in the Middle East had shown that Brussels' perception
of the situation was similar to their own.
But the Security Council abstention by EU members Britain, France and
Ireland as well as Norway represented "an unfortunate failure of the
European states to show their independence from the United States,"
Falk said.
Dugard told the news conference that during their visit last month the
team found "clear evidence of human rights violations by the Israeli
defence forces carried out in an open and obvious manner."
Participation by youths and even children in confrontations with
Israeli soldiers, he said, was "largely spontaneous... reflecting
frustration, opposition to oppression, and a sense of humiliation
after years of occupation."
Falk said the position of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and
his successor Ariel Sharon in support of assassinations of Palestinian
activists meant they bore "criminal responsability" for the killings.
Copyright 2001 Reuters News Service.
