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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tsigprofit who wrote (476346)	10/15/2003 4:05:14 PM
From: Emile Vidrine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Israel Demands Withdrawal of Food Report, Bell South (from Assoicated Press), October 10, 2003 "Israel on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of a United Nations report on the food situation in the Palestinian territories, claiming the author is politically biased. Yaakov Levy, Israel's ambassador in Geneva, wrote to the chairwoman of the U.N. Human Rights Commission demanding that Jean Ziegler's report be "deemed unfit for presentation" to the commission when it meets in the spring. The move follows an interview with Ziegler on French television channel LCI, in which he said he was a member of the board of directors of the Tel Aviv-based Alternative Information Center, which describes itself as "a Palestinian-Israeli organization which disseminates information, research and political analysis ... while promoting cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis based on the values of social justice, solidarity and community involvement." Levy wrote in his letter that "Ziegler showed his true colors. He openly admitted for the first time to membership in a politically biased non-governmental organization." Ziegler, a Swiss sociology professor and former lawmaker, is the U.N.'s independent expert on the right to food. He visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in July and later said the Palestinians had been "reduced to begging" by Israeli security measures. "There is a permanent, grave violation of the right to food by the occupying forces. There is a catastrophic humanitarian situation, and really it is absurd," he said at the time. "Markets don't function, peasants don't go to the field, and they are humiliated in a very, very shocking way." Israel had earlier complained because Ziegler had presented his findings to the media before he had given them to the Israeli government. "Mr. Ziegler abused the credentials he possesses ... in order to embark on a media campaign to blast the state of Israel," Levy said. He added that he believes U.N. authorities should "consider Mr. Ziegler unfit for future assignments" ... Unusually, the Israeli government had welcomed Ziegler's visit and allowed him to go where he wanted and ask questions of Israeli officials. In the past, the government has refused to cooperate with visits by U.N. human rights experts, insisting that their mandates are biased. Its cooperation with Ziegler may have stemmed from his earlier high-profile criticism of Swiss banks for their handling of Nazi assets during World War II." hometab.bellsouth.net