<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israeli Government Slams Human Rights&nbsp;Report]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="createdate">Monday, 20 December 2010 16:34 </span> <span class="createby"> Connie Hackbarth, Alternative Information Center (AIC) </span></p>
<div class="buttonheading"><span class="email"> <a title="E-mail" href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&amp;link=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbHRlcm5hdGl2ZW5ld3Mub3JnL2VuZ2xpc2gvaW5kZXgucGhwL3RvcGljcy9uZXdzLzMxMDgtaXNyYWVsaS1nb3Zlcm5tZW50LXNsYW1zLWh1bWFuLXJpZ2h0cy1yZXBvcnQt"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.alternativenews.org/english/images/M_images/emailButton.png" alt="E-mail" /></a> </span> <span class="print"> <a title="Print" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3108-israeli-government-slams-human-rights-report-?tmpl=component&amp;print=1&amp;layout=default&amp;page="><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.alternativenews.org/english/images/M_images/printButton.png" alt="Print" /></a> </span> <span class="pdf"> <a title="PDF" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3108-israeli-government-slams-human-rights-report-?format=pdf"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.alternativenews.org/english/images/M_images/pdf_button.png" alt="PDF" /></a> </span></div>
<div class="newsitem_text">
<div class="news_item_article">
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The  Israeli government directly and indirectly attacked the international  human rights organization Human Rights Watch following its release  yesterday (19 December) of a report entitled <em><a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/95061">Separate and Unequal: Israel&#8217;s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories</a>.</em></span></span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img style="vertical-align:middle;border:3px solid #000000;margin:5px;" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.alternativenews.org/english/images/stories/news/2010/december_2010/benjamin_netanyahu.jpg" alt="benjamin_netanyahu" width="600" height="440" /></p>
<p></span></span></em><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Mark  Regev, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,  noted that &#8220;unfortunately over the past years a series of documented  cases have shown Human Rights Watch reports to have clearly been  polluted by an anti-Israel agenda.&#8221;  And while Netanyahu did not mention  Human Rights Watch or its report explicitly, he noted that “we must  expose the hypocrisy of human rights organizations that turn a blind eye  to the most repressive regimes in the world, regimes that stone women  and hang gays, and instead target the only liberal democracy in the  Middle East.” </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
“This is yet another one-sided report,” added Regev.</span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Israeli  officials failed to respond to the detailed evidence in this 166 page  report, which demonstrates how Israel operates a two-tier system for the  two populations of the West Bank in so-called Areas C, over which  Israel maintains exclusive control.  The report is based on case studies  comparing Israel&#8217;s starkly different treatment of settlements and  nearby Palestinian communities. Most alarming for the Israeli  government, the report further calls on the US and EU member states and  on businesses with operations in settlement areas to avoid supporting  Israeli settlement policies that are inherently discriminatory and which  violate international law.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">On  International Human Rights Day earlier this month, Israeli officials  further demonstrated their official attitude to human rights by holding a  conference with the inflammatory and one-sided group <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11651.shtml">NGO Monitor</a>. In a <a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2010/DFM-Ayalon-to-hold-press-conference-with-NGO-Monitor-+8-Dec-2010.htm">joint press conference</a> with NGO Monitor staff, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon noted that  human rights organizations “have been manipulated and used either by  terror organizations or other elements to try and strip the right of  self-defence from democracies.”</p>
<p></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">According  to the HRW report, &#8220;Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely  because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of  electricity, water, schools, and access to roads, while nearby Jewish  settlers enjoy all of these state-provided benefits. While Israeli  settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time  warp &#8211; not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed  off their lands and out of their homes &#8230;Discrimination of the kind  practiced daily in the West Bank should be beyond the pale for anyone.”</span></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p>via <a href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3108-israeli-government-slams-human-rights-report-">Israeli Government Slams Human Rights Report</a>.</p>
]]></html><thumbnail_url><![CDATA[https://i2.wp.com/www.alternativenews.org/english/images/M_images/emailButton.png?fit=440%2C330]]></thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width><![CDATA[]]></thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height><![CDATA[]]></thumbnail_height></oembed>