Six European States Vote for Palestinian Terrorism

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 15 April 2002

UN Watch today criticized European states for voting at the UN Commission on Human Rights for a one-sided resolution against Israel that includes a thinly veiled endorsement of Palestinian terror attacks.

"A vote in favor of this resolution is a vote for Palestinian terrorism. An abstention suggests ambivalence toward terror," said Ambassador Alfred Moses, chairman of UN Watch, the Geneva-based institute of the American Jewish Committee.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 40 in favor, 5 opposed and 7 abstentions. European nations voting for the resolution included Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Croatia, Italy and Poland abstained.

Voting against the resolution were Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Guatemla and the United Kingdom.

"Any country that condones - or is indifferent to - the murder of Israeli civilians in markets, on buses and in cafes has lost any moral standing to criticize Israel's human rights record," Ambassador Moses said.

The AJC applauded the five countries that had the courage to vote against the resolution.

Preambular paragraph 8 of today's resolution, "Question of the Violation of Human Rights in the Occupied Arab Territories, Including Palestine," reads: "Recalling particularly General Assembly resolution 37/43 of 3 December 1982 reaffirming the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples against foreign occupation." The referenced 1982 General Assembly resolution (attached) includes the following operative paragraph 2: "Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle".

"By all available means" is recognized UN code language for the legitimization of terrorism.

The European Union claim - that it removed such language from the draft resolution during negotiations with the Organization of the Islamic Conference - is false and disingenuous. With diplomatic sleight-of-hand, the EU and the OIC agreed to remove explicit references to "by all available means," while allowing a disguised reference to remain in the text.

The resolution also contradicts recent Security Council resolutions 1397 and 1402, both of which demand an "immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror," and Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement to the Commission on Friday: "The killing of innocent civilians violates international law and undermines the legitimacy of the cause it purports to serve. That of course applies also to suicide bombings aimed at civilians, which are as morally repugnant as they are politically harmful."

Ambassador Moses added: "The UN Human Rights Commission has lost its moral relevance on issues pertaining to the Arab-Israeli conflict and become a theater of the absurd, taking political positions that go far beyond its human rights mandate. The tragic developments in the region call for a political settlement, not one-sided statements that ignore the Palestinian abandonment of peace talks and resort to acts of violence and terror since September 2000."

UN Watch deplores the anti-Israel bias of the Commission on Human Rights, expressed by:

- the excessive amount of time devoted to the Arab-Israeli conflict, compared to other conflicts;

- the separate agenda item 8, which examines only Israeli actions, while all other states are discussed under agenda item 9;

- the six resolutions against Israel, compared to one resolution each for other conflict situations;

- the one-sided criticism of Israel in the Commission's resolutions;

- the failure to condemn Palestinian human rights violations.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org