Stop Giving Human Rights a Bad Name

I long ago noticed that most groups which had either peace or justice in their names had little interest in either.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and its successor, the United Nations Human Rights Council, have had a similar lack of interest in human rights, exemplified by the role of the Commission on Human Rights in promoting an assault on human rights through its 2001 conference in Durban.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) continues in that tradition. It occasionally quietly mentions some of the more outrageous abuses by the Palestinian Authority against its own people, but mainly in order to establish bona fides for its real mission, its propaganda war against Israel.

It's interesting to read between the lines of one of its recent diatribes, a September 27 press release "Israeli Occupation Forces Escalate Crimes in the Gaza Strip: 11 Palestinians Killed and 33 Injured in 9 Hours."

PCHR asserted "Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed several car (sic) crimes in the Gaza Strip over the past few hours, which left 11 Palestinians dead, including a child, and injured 33 others, five of them seriously."

"The Center's preliminary investigation into the extra-judicial execution indicates that at approximately 16:45 on Wednesday, 26 September 2007, an IOF plane fired 2 rockets at a jeep traveling in Salah El-Deen Road near Dola intersection in Zaitoon Quarter in Gaza City. The rockets hit the vehicle directly, killings it 5 occupants and burning it. The victims were members of 'Army of Islam,' all of them from Gaza City."

In other words, Israel attacked a group of terrorists traveling together in a jeep, most likely on their way to attack Israeli civilians, and the PCHR considers this a crime.

"At about 17:00, IOF fired tank shells and machine gun fire at a gathering of civilians and resistance activists in Zaitoon quarter in the town. Three people, including 2 civilians, were killed."

It would appear that, for PHCR, someone who plots with terrorists to murder innocent Israelis but does not himself pull the trigger is a civilian. PHCR also lists the victims. The youngest lists is Yusef Talal El-Basyouni (17), hardly a child, but someone at a prime age for recruitment as a suicide bomber.

"At approximately 1:00 on Thursday, 27 September, an IOF plane fired a rocket at a group of resistance activists at the southern entrance to the town. Two of them were killed and 3 others injured, one of them seriously."

Thus, by the PCHR's own account, Israel's actions were taken against groups involved in hostile action against Israelis. Rather than condemning those intent on murdering civilians, PCHR condemns Israel for defending itself and ultimately saving innocent lives.