M I D - E A S T  R E A L I T I E S - QUOTE/UNQUOTE

     While Israeli officials - from both Labor and Likud - continue to lie their way forward pushing the Palestinians from one disaster to another and institutionalizing a novel form of Middle Eastern apartheid in the still occupied territories, human rights groups and the United Nations continue to attack Israeli policies.

     Earlier this year, under tremendous pressure to sidetrack the report, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali released an unprecedented U.N. report that savagely blasted Israel for the unprecedented massacre at the U.N. base in Qana, Lebanon as well as for the massive cover-up that followed. A short time later Amnesty International took what for it was an unprecedented step in releasing its own report confirming that of the U.N. and harshly condemning Israel.

     Recently, another U.N. special committee has found that Israeli policies toward the Palestinians have actually worsened since the Oslo and subsequent agreements -- plus of course the human rights record of Yasser Arafat's "Palestinian authority" that now works in tandem with the Israelis is abominable.

     "One of the characteristics of the Israeli occupation, the beating of Palestinian suspects by Israeli civilians, soldiers, and police officers, mirrors a culture of sadism", the U.N. Committee Chairman, Leonardo da Silva from Sri Lanka, recently stated.

     And in a related developement, just days after Israeli TV showed a clandestine video of Israeli soldiers repeatedly attacking and brutalizing Palestinians already in their custody -- a video that had already been shown throughout the world -- Israeli Attorney- General Michael Ben-Yair admitted: "This is a phenomenon and not something extraordinary."