Interview: U.S. in no position to talk about human rights, says expert

GAZA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States is the last country entitled to talk about human rights issues, as it has committed "many bloody crimes against humanity," a Palestinian expert said recently.

"Historically, the U.S. has committed major crimes against humanity in the Middle East. It violently imposed its economic and political hegemony on Arab countries," Salah Abdel Ati, a Gaza-based expert on human rights, told Xinhua in an interview.

What happened to the Palestinian people is "a stark portrayal" of U.S. human rights abuses in the region, Abdel Ati said.

Both Republican-led and Democrat-led U.S. administrations have long been practicing double standards on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, leaving the legitimate rights and demands of the Palestinian people unprotected and unresolved, not to mention peace, development and human rights, he said.

Abdel Ati praised the report released Tuesday by the China Society for Human Rights Studies, which reveals a series of crimes committed by the United States in the Middle East and surrounding areas that seriously violate international law.

The report proves that all the U.S. allegations of human rights issues are just false slogans and have no basis on the ground, he said.

The United States, as the report pointed out, has shown no respect for the diversity of civilizations, but rather hostility to those that it does not identify with, Abdel Ati said.

The U.S. prisoner abuse scandals coming into light frequently are not only an infringement on and an insult to the dignity of these people, but also a total disregard of and a trampling on international norms, he said.

Abdul Ati cautioned the people of all Middle Eastern countries to recognize the hypocrisy and deceit of the so-called "American-style democracy" and "American-style human rights," which "will only bring more instability and uncertainty to the region."