UN guilty of denying justice to Jewish refugees

At a press conference in New York on Monday 5th November, the prominent human rights lawyer and ex-Canadian minister Irwin Cotler will choose the occasion of the 6oth anniversary of the UN Partition plan for Palestine to lambast the United Nations for denying Jewish refugees both justice and their place in history.

November 2, 2007 (New York, NY) -- "The time has come to return Jewish refugees from Arab countries to the Middle East narrative from which they been expunged these past sixty years," said Canadian MP and former Justice Minister, the Honourable Irwin Cotler. He added, "This is not just a case of justice delayed, but justice denied. Indeed, the displacement of 850,000 Jews from Arab countries is not just a 'Forgotten Exodus' but a 'Forced Exodus."

Cotler, a long-time international human rights lawyer and Law Professor will participate in a press conference to be held in New York at noon on Monday, November 5th in the offices of the American Jewish Committee at 165 East 56th Street to release a report on "Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: The Case for Rights and Redress."

The report, said Cotler, "contains documents - recently discovered in the U.N. archives - that reveal a pattern of state-sanctioned oppression of Jewish refugees from Arab countries - including Nuremberg-like laws." It also contains dramatic evidence of a veritable collusion among Arab countries to persecute and displace their Jewish populations.

Cotler continued: "The report also discloses the pernicious and prejudicial role played by the U.N. in excluding Jewish refugees from Arab countries from the justice and peace agenda".

The press conference is being held as part of the New York Summit of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, and will include 50 delegates from 10 countries, on the eve also of the Annapolis Peace Conference.