UN’s Richard Falk under attack again – from the Palestinian Authority
By Omar Radwan

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, has come under renewed attack in recent days.  Professor Falk’s remit is to monitor Israeli violations of human rights in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for the UN Human Rights Council.  He submits periodic reports to the UNHRC on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, but his mandate only covers Israel’s human rights record.  He was appointed to the position of Special Rapporteur in March 2008.  Professor Falk has pulled no punches in his criticism of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians, particularly the blockade of Gaza; his appointment was met by furious objections from Israel and the United States.  When he first tried to visit the Palestinian territories in his capacity as Special Rapporteur, in December 2008, Israel detained him for 30 hours at Ben Gurion Airport in humiliating conditions before expelling him. This was a flagrant violation of diplomatic protocol and a calculated snub to the United Nations; it was perhaps no coincidence that this happened just two weeks before Israel’s war against Gaza. He has not been allowed to enter the occupied territories since then.

While Desmond Travers argues for prohibition of certain weapons, ex-head of Shin Bet says forget the past and move on!

On Monday 8 March, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) hosted a public discussion on the UN's Goldstone Report and the Peace Process. The panel included Ami Ayalon (former member of the Israeli Knesset and ex-head of the Israeli secret service, Shin Bet), Professor Christine Chinkin (Professor of International Law at the LSE, barrister and co-author of the Goldstone Report), Dr. Karma Nabulsi (lecturer at Oxford University and former PLO representative at the UN) and Colonel Desmond Travers (retired Irish Army officer, member of the Board of Directors at the Institute for International Criminal Investigations and co-author of the Goldstone report).

The security service in Gaza has been restored and is now ready for a development phase. This was the message given by Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, at a ceremony honouring Police College graduates on 7 March. The government's intention is to have a professional security service that serves the Palestinian people, not the aims and objectives of the Israeli occupation. Denying rumours that there are internal divisions within the government, Mr. Haniyeh insisted that everyone is dedicated to serving their religion, their nation and their people.

Israel may be "no more rogue than America", but it behaves like a rogue state nevertheless
Andrew Roberts is a historian of note, but his robust defence of the state of Israel in the Financial Times (Israel is no more rogue than America, 3 March) is missing in both objectivity and accuracy. Indeed, if the title of his article is anything to go by, then he has missed the point altogether. If two rogues stand together, that doesn’t make one any less culpable than the other per se. Nor does it mean that innocence and justification for wrongdoing can be presumed.

The struggle in the land called holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims is one that prompts strong feelings on all sides of the argument. In his response to FT articles by Henry Siegman and David Gardner, Mr. Roberts makes some staggeringly inaccurate claims, twisting reality to suit his argument. For example, does nuclear-armed Israel really warrant his description as "doughty, brave, embattled, tiny, surrounded, yet proudly defiant"? This is the country with one of the most powerful and best equipped armed forces in the world, backed by the world’s remaining superpower. It is the state doing the occupying, not being the victim of occupation. Roberts is asking us to stretch our imaginations a little too much.