OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Gulf News: Israel accused of starving West Bank

United Nations report which blames Israel for causing starvation in
Gaza and the West Bank has prompted a furious diplomatic row with the
Israeli government of Ariel Sharon. The leaked report by Jean Ziegler, a Swiss
sociologist and UN special envoy, blames Israel's security policies for
"collective punishment" of the Palestinians. Ziegler spent 10 days in
the occupied territories in July and was due to present his report to the
UN General Assembly in New York on November 18.

Furious Israeli officials, however, have denounced the report as
"highly political", saying that Ziegler had gone beyond his mandate. With
support from American diplomats at the UN, Israel has called for the report to
be rejected before it reaches the floor of the Assembly, and asked the UN
Human Rights Commission, for whom Ziegler was working as a food rights
specialist, to discipline him.