June 19, 2008

Reuters reports from Geneva: “The new United Nations special investigator on Israeli behavior in the occupied territories said on Monday he wanted clearance to track Palestinian violations of international law.”

It is a measure of the UN’s dismal record on Israel that one of its investigators needs even to seek clearance to probe Palestinian behavior in the first place. One would have hoped that in its efforts to investigate and ameliorate conflicts around the globe, the UN would naturally have examined both sides in any conflict. But in this as in so many other incidents involving Israel, fairness does not seem part of the UN mandate.

It is also a measure of the world body’s general shamelessness that the request comes from a Jewish-American academic who seems already convinced of Israel’s culpability. Richard Falk, an emeritus professor at Princeton University, has compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians with the “criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity.” In the same article, Falk warned of a “Palestinian holocaust in the making.”

UN Watch, an affiliate of the American Jewish Committee, has suggested that Falk hardly represents an unbiased choice for the UN Human Rights Council’s “Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories.” They have also noted that the council aims a peculiar focus on Israel, even as it ignores grim reports from Burma, Tibet, and Zimbabwe.

Perhaps Falk’s request to examine Palestinian behavior represents progress and should be welcomed. Falk has vowed to be “objective and impartial,” and diplomats said the Human Rights Council was likely to grant his request.

Perhaps, but to borrow a metaphor the council might appreciate, we won’t hang by our thumbs.

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