Who is Obama's Middle East envoy?

Because we need somebody that is going to be neutral ,and just. not one way, like Bush...every story had two sides .Hamas was wrong , but the jews where wrong to... in closin all the roads, and not destroy the wall, and not obey the United Nations , and used all the terrible bombs, and kiling 1.300,00 palistines !
thank you for the change
Mary Jurberg
megues10@comcast.net

What do these previous comments have to do with George Mitchell and the extremely important work he has done, especially in Northern Ireland, in promoting peace and reconciliation around the world?

Based on these reports, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan repeated the false claim in an anti-Israel diatribe, thereby deepening the rift between Ankara and Jerusalem and increasing the sense of isolation in Israel.

THE FALSE white-phosphorous allegation is part of a pattern led by HRW that reflects the modern version of the blood libel. For the past year, HRW has been a leader in the use of international legal rhetoric such as "collective punishment," to attack Israel. And in the July 30, 2006 Kana incident in the Second Lebanon War, Lucy Mair (HRW's former researcher with a prior history of anti-Israel campaigning) disregarded the Red Cross on-scene estimate of 28 casualties (which proved to be the actual figure) in favor of a higher estimate of 54 provided by an alleged "survivor." HRW's false estimate was widely picked up by the media and further disseminated by HRW in an August 1, 2006 press release, sparking an international outcry and leading to a 48-hour halt in IAF operations, which extended the war.

Similarly, Marc Garlasco led HRW's high-profile "investigation" into the Gaza Beach incident in 2006, repeating claims that "the evidence overwhelmingly supports the allegations that the civilians were killed by artillery shells fired by the IDF," and ignoring details that did not fit his ideological "conclusion." Garlasco was also among the authors of HRW's "Razing Rafah" report of 2004, which contained many unverifiable and disputed claims, erased the context of terror and was used to justify HRW involvement in anti-Israel boycott campaigns.

In this way, HRW and other self-proclaimed human rights organizations have contributed a great deal to undermining the moral basis of morality and international law. Instead of repeatedly calling for "independent investigations" of Israel, the donors to HRW need to undertake an investigation of how this once-serious organization has been destroyed from within.

The writer is the chairman of the Political Science Department at Bar-Ilan University and executive director of NGO Monitor.

HRW's "evidence" was based entirely on innuendo and unverifiable "eyewitness" reports. One report states that "[o]n January 9, Human Rights Watch researchers on a ridge overlooking Gaza from the northwest observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired WP that appeared to be over the Gaza City/Jabalya area. In addition, Human Rights Watch has analyzed photographs taken by the media on the Israel-Gaza border."

HRW does not name its researchers; it does not provide a detailed location of its observation, nor does it identify the photos it "analyzed" making independent verification of this "evidence" impossible.

INDEED, TWO days later, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which certainly cannot be accused of a pro-Israeli bias, issued a statement that backed the IDF statements. "Using phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is legitimate under international law," it said, adding that there was no evidence that Israel was "using phosphorus in a questionable way, such as burning down buildings or consciously putting civilians at risk." (Flares assist search and rescue forces in saving the lives of wounded soldiers and preventing Hamas from snatching the bodies of dead soldiers. To claim that such operations are illegitimate is, in and of itself, immoral.)