GENEVA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- At the 55th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council currently taking place here, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is undoubtedly one of the biggest focuses among participants, with many believing the disaster in Gaza is a tragedy created by Israeli "occupiers" and their American accomplices.

"The United States has not only justified Israel's brutal actions and supplied it with all weapons used to wreak havoc on Gaza but has also shielded it diplomatically," said Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, in a recent opinion piece on Turkish Anadolu Agency's website. "Though this double standard applied by the United States in the case of Israel is extreme, it's not unique."

"Because of their deep racist attitudes towards non-Western peoples, the United States and its Western allies have refused to acknowledge Israel's oppressive regime. They only see one side as human, one party as deserving sympathy and backing with all means, without any compunction or sense of guilt," he said.

Many questioned the morality of Israel, which has imposed a long-term confinement and blockade on 2.3 million Gazans in an enclave of some 360 square kilometers and showed no interest in a solution. How can lasting peace and stability be achieved when the rights of the Palestinian people to statehood, survival, and return have long been disregarded?

At the same time, the United States and some of its Western allies have been turning an almost blind eye to the enduring sufferings of the Palestinians, pretending to be a moral model and declaring unconditional support for the occupier. By demonizing Palestinians as "human animals," as stated by the Israeli defense minister, the West has shamelessly exposed its hypocrisy and double standards.

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri, who is in Geneva for the Human Rights Council session, recently told journalists that the United States' latest airdropping of aid packages into Gaza is "absurd." "Why is the United States providing bombs and ammunition and financial support to a government that has stated its intent to starve civilians, and then use these expensive and ineffective methods?" he asked.

"They create a genocide, massacring over 30,000 people, airdrop some food that lands in the ocean anyway, and then expect a thank you," said Yasmeen El-Hasan, advocacy officer at the Ramallah-based Union of Agricultural Work Committees, at the same briefing.

The tragedy in Gaza has persisted for over five months now. The United States, abusing its veto power in the Security Council to repeatedly kill resolutions demanding a ceasefire, appears unwilling to extend such ideals as human rights, rules-based international order, freedom and equality to people outside its own clique. Some observers believe that Washington has done itself diplomatic self-harm over Gaza.

Daniel Warner, a commentator and expert on international issues, said in a recent article published in the online magazine CounterPunch that because the United States and Israel tend to consider themselves as "exceptional" countries, "they remain separate from other countries by continuing to refuse to live in this world as normal states."

The West's unconditional support of Israel is being viewed as "a remnant of colonization," Warner said. "The vocabulary of good guys versus bad guys or democracies versus autocracies doesn't play in the current Middle East crisis." Enditem

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