The Gaza Human Rights Conference

On the 13 of December, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights released a press reporting on the International Conference on human rights and final status issues. The conference was held at the Rashad Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza.

The opening speakers included Amin Makki Madani, who is a representative of the UN High Commission on Human Rights, Hannu Halinen, Special Reporter on the Occupied Territories, UN Office – Geneva; and Jamal Sourani, Ex-Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Jamal Sourani called Israeli Jurisprudence into question when he asked the audience how it could be possible for the Israelis to abide by international law when they only recognize the Tora, the riffle and two bullets.

This opening statement set the tone for the rest of the meeting.

Francis Boylein spoke about Israeli “genocide” against the Palestinians. He suggested that the Palestinians sue the Israeli in the World Court in order to demonstrate “this undeniable fact before the entire world.”

He then went on to trivialize the holocaust by saying that “what the Nazis did to the Jews… is identical to what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians.”

It is the opinion of Hebcom that by cynically perverting this conference for obvious political reasons, these speakers did a great disservice to the cause of Human Rights.

The rights of Palestinians and Israelis; Moslems, Jews and Christians, are issues which should have been addressed in a more productive manner.

By the time these two men had finished speaking the real human rights activists in the audience had stopped listening.