inside the glass house

Lankan envoy's committee blasts Israel's rights record
NEW YORK - Chitambaranathan Mahendran, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has been outspoken on two politically sensitive issues: the illegitimate US military attack on Iraq and Israeli human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza.

At private dinners and at social functions, he has expressed his liberal views in very strong language. At times, his views are diametrically opposed to the political rhetoric of some of the openly pro-American ministers in the cabinet.

But since Mahendran, a retired career diplomat, is a politically annointed Permanent Representative with close ties to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, he could afford to be candid -- and get away with it.

While he has publicly maintained a low profile on the US political and military debacle in Iraq -- sticking to his party line -- he has been more forthright in his stinging criticism of Israel. As chairman of the UN Special Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Territories, Mahendran has once again pummelled the Israelis for their mistreatment of Palestinians.

After reading his committee's report to the General Assembly last week, one American diplomat was constrained to ask: "Why are you so harsh with the Israelis?" After 35 years of investigations, the committee monitoring human rights abuses of Palestinians has concluded that the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank was the worst ever last year.

"We must sadly report that the situation drastically deteriorated in 2002," Mahendran told delegates last week. The Palestinians did not only see their freedom of movement and residence severely restricted through curfews, road closures and checkpoints, but also their economic, social and cultural rights harshly violated and undermined, he said.
Mahendran's three-member committee -- including Ambassador Rastan Mohd Isa of Malaysia and Ambassador Ousmane Camara of Senegal -- was barred from entering the occupied territories once again.

"We made a formal request to Israel, but it was turned down," he said. Israel "also showed hostility towards our committee". The committee, which has never been permitted to enter the occupied territories, has been forced to hold sittings in Jordan, Egypt and Syria, inviting Palestinians to travel to Amman, Cairo and Damascus every year to detail the continued human rights abuses by Israel.

In his report to the 191-member General Assembly, Mahendran said the committee tried to establish a meaningful dialogue with the State of Israel, "but to no avail". "In view of the gravity of the situation, the time has come for the Special Committee to be allowed by the Israeli authorities to get access to the occupied territories and assess for itself the current situation of human rights, as well as to ascertain the views of the Government of Israel," he told delegates.

The Israeli government, which is opposed to the very existence of the special committee, routinely refuses UN bodies entry into the occupied territories -- particularly if they are probing human rights violations of Palestinians. The Special Committee has warned that the intangible and inalienable right of the Palestinians to a homeland of their own is threatened both by the erection of the separation wall, the unabated policy of new Jewish settlements, and the heavy destruction of infrastructure, properties and homes.

The controversial wall will eventually annex about 55 percent of the West Bank, its central, western and eastern sides, including Jordan Valley, and major water sources.
Last month the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to stop the construction of the wall. But Israel has continued to defy the world body -- as it has done over the years since its creation as a nation state.

The European Union and the US have a number of means available to pressure Israel to make its human rights practice comply with international law. But to date no action has been taken action that would put Israel in a position to actually stop its practices or suffer a financial penalty.

Israel is able to continue its gross human rights abuses primarily because of its ability to manipulate the UN human rights system. And one of the biggest shortcomings of the international human rights and humanitarian law framework is the absence of an effective enforcement mechanism.

And despite its denunciation of Israel, the Special Committee remains helpless because of the unrelenting US support for the Jewish state.

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