Military

DATE=04/05/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PALESTINIANS/HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (L)

NUMBER=2-288382

BYLINE=DALE GAVLAK

DATELINE=GENEVA

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Pressed by angry Arab delegations, the U-N

Human Rights Commission has voted today (Friday) to

immediately send a mission to the Palestinian territories to investigate

reports of gross violations. The U-N-H-R-C High

Commissioner, Mary Robinson, will head the delegation

traveling to Israel next week. Dale Gavlak has the

details from Geneva.

TEXT: The U-N Human Rights Commission voted 44 to 2

with seven abstentions to accept a resolution backed

by Islamic states to send Mary Robinson posthaste on a

trip to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mrs.

Robinson will file a report with the Commission

on the ongoing violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

She said she would be guided by the advice of U-N Secretary

General Kofi Annan to ask two prominent international

personalities to join her mission, which is not supported by

the United States.

Canada and Guatemala were the two countries voting

against the resolution. But they are widely believed

to represent the United States' position on the

matter. For the first time since the Commission was

founded in 1947, the United States could not vote

because it failed to win re-election to the Commission last

year. Israel also is not a member. Its ambassador to

the U-N in Geneva, Yaacov Levy, called the resolution

one-sided.

///LEVY ACT///

It will not contribute to peace and the other fora

discussing the subject at this very moment--more

appropriate ones--we have the mission of General Zinni

on the spot and we are expecting Secretary Powell. So

we feel at this time there is no need for other

missions which could very well affect negatively the

delicate situation in the area.

///END ACT///

Israel has repeatedly rejected proposals put forward

by the U-N, Arab states and the Mitchell Report for

the positioning of international observers in the

Palestinian territories as a means of monitoring and

stemming the continuing bloodshed.

Palestinian Ambassador to the U-N, Nabil Ramlawi,

welcomed the Commission's decision to send a mission

headed by Mrs. Robinson. He argues that Israeli

violence has reached an unprecedented, unimaginable

level against the Palestinians. He says such a

mission will only reinforce international efforts to

stop the bloodshed.

///RAMLAWI ACT///

It helps build a sort of public opinion on what is

going on, and I think this can be a positive attitude

towards the suffering of the Palestinian people under

Israeli occupation.

///END ACT///

But in November 2000, shortly after the start of the

current Palestinian uprising, a convoy carrying Mrs.

Robinson came under sniper fire during a visit to the

West Bank town of Hebron. Several diplomats have

expressed concern for the safety of such a mission, and

it is not clear whether Israel will assist such an

investigation. (Signed)

NEB/DG/SAB