Double Standard on Palestinian Rights Charged by Arafat

PLO leader Yasser Arafat accused the world of double standards Wednesday and said the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli rule proves that some human rights abusers can escape unpunished.

Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, approached the podium at the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights to sustained applause and delivered a speech that pulled no punches.

“The denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and grave violations of Palestinian human rights over decades provides us with the most striking example of double standards in the implementation of human rights,” Arafat told a packed conference hall.

“The very clear support accorded to Israel by the U.S.A. and other states can only but encourage Israel to persist in its policies of aggression, occupation . . . and violation of human rights,” he said to more than 160 government delegations, including two members of the Israeli group.

Reacting to Arafat’s speech, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said that with peace talks under way in Washington, “now is the time for all parties to work toward a comprehensive peace settlement and avoid unhelpful and polemical arguments. . . .”

McCurry’s written statement also said the United States “objects strongly to (Arafat’s) charges of a double standard in its policy with respect to human rights.”