Double standard squared

Ahead of the expected attack on Iraq, Israel's public relations corps has pulled out an old standing order from the days of the first Gulf War, to take special care not to create any linkage between that conflict and "ours." The last thing Ariel Sharon needs right now is for the French to remind the world that Israel refuses to sign the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty and that it has disobeyed a long series of Security Council resolutions. The last thing Sharon needs is for The New York Times to ask why, 12 years after Bush senior freed Kuwait by force from the Iraqi occupation, his son is lending a hand and money to Israel to deepen its occupation of the territories.
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Money Problems for U.N. Agency for Palestinians

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees warned today that without immediate international help it would run out of money next month to feed more than a million people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Since the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians broke out more than two years ago, the agency has relied on an "emergency fund" to supply growing needs for food, shelter and jobs in the occupied territories. It now feeds about 1.1 million people there, roughly a third of the Palestinian population, up from 115,000 before the conflict began.

For two months the agency has been appealing for donations totaling $94 million to replenish the emergency fund. It has received only one commitment, of $1.5 million, from Switzerland.

"The situation is bad enough as it is, but it's going to be very much worse," said Peter Hansen, the commissioner general of the agency, in an interview here today. He warned of a "great humanitarian disaster."
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