On behalf of B'nai B'rith Interntional and the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organization, I do not wish to repeat statements we made in earlier sessions regarding the obvious selectivity implicit in selecting a single geographic conflict with alleged allegations against only one party to the conflict as the only one meriting a permanent place on the Council's agenda. It was our hope, however, that the Work Programme would not, in its turn, place this item on each and every session of the Council. The time wasted today might more usefully have been devoted to truly urgent situations where innocent civilians are dying in ethnic conflicts or for lack of access to international aid in the wake of natural catastrophes or to situtations where arbitrary arrests occur on the grounds of religious beliefs.

Mr President, for years we have read and commented on the reports of Mr John Dugard, the outgoing Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the last of which is available to the Council today. We had hoped that his successor would be chosen at least in part on the basis of his or her political even-handedness, so as not to compound his or her mandate's evident one-sidedness with a personal bias in favour or one side of this political conflict between two peoples claiming the same territory. While we wish to maintain an open mind as to the reports that we are going to receive from Mr. Richard Falk, the new Special Rapporteur, there is reason for concern regarding his impartiality simply on the basis of his published writings on the problem at issue.

Thus, Mr Falk saw fit to co-sign a declaration dated July 19, 2006 in which the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas was justified by the "appropriation" of Palestinian natural resources on the part of Israel. Worse, the entire conflict was summarized as "a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation." The statement ignores Israel's formal commitment to the two-State solution under the "road map" and does not have a single word about the takeover of the Palestinian Authority Government of the time by Hamas, an organization formally committed to the elimination of Israel and unwilling to negotiate a peace agreement.

Mr President, it is our hope that Mr Falk will not allow his personal prejudices, as revealed in these quotations, to colour the reports he is charged to make in his capacity as an impartial UN official who knows no fear or favour in the performance of his duties for the international community.

Thank you, Mr President