This is a guest post by Israelinurse.

The ‘Free Gaza’ flotilla with its cargo of civil rights activists and humanitarian aid is due to reach Israeli waters on Saturday morning, but recent developments would appear to confirm what many of us have suspected for some time: that the concept of human rights has been hijacked by certain elements for political ends and that in the eyes of certain ‘human rights activists’, some humans are apparently more deserving than others.

An article on the ‘Ynet’ Hebrew website reports that lawyer Nick Kaufman, acting on behalf of the Shalit family, approached the organisers of the ‘Free Gaza’ campaign and pledged the family’s support on condition that in addition to their demand to lift the partial embargo on Gaza, they would also work opposite Hamas to demand that international organisations be allowed to visit Gilad Shalit and pass on to him letters and packages from his family.

Mr. Kaufman’s proposition was turned down by the legal advisor of ‘Free Gaza’ and he is quoted in the article as saying “I thought that this organisation supported human rights, as it declares about itself, but this reaction would indicate that it is interested in creating provocations and expressing support for a terrorist organisation and is really not interested in human rights”.

Gilad has of course been held in captivity by Hamas for four years under conditions which violate international law and conventions and deny him even basic humanitarian rights such as regular contact with his family through letters and visits from the Red Cross.

If the concept of human rights is to have any meaning whatsoever it must be applied universally, regardless of nationality, religion, colour, sexual orientation, gender or any other criteria, otherwise it becomes nothing more than empty rhetoric. That politically motivated groups supporting terror organisations which brazenly mock internationally accepted conventions are allowed to cynically manipulate the subject of human rights reflects miserably upon the international community’s commitment to the importance of the universality of that principle.

The many respectable charities and organisations which work in the area of humanitarian aid and human rights need to urgently reclaim their field from those who seek to misuse it purely for political ends. If they shirk this admittedly unpleasant responsibility they not only risk being tarred with a brush which is ultimately very damaging to their own aims, but are selling out the people who really need their help. Sadly, there are still too many of those people in our world today and one of them is called Gilad.

This is a guest post by Robert Davis.

Thanks Chas for agreeing to let me write a guest post on your blog. It was great to meet you last week at the Zionist Federation’s Talk for Israel evening. I found it a very inspiring session. I wanted to write about another inspiring issue which is of particular importance to me…

I am currently frantically training for a triathlon to raise money for a Jerusalem-based charity which brings together Jewish and Arab kids to share each others’ traditions and culture. The project also involves their families. The charity is called CCECH and it is completely non-partisan. I chose this charity is because I cannot see any other way of bringing about an end to the current bloodshed and status quo in Israel and the disputed territories. Education has to be the way forward. I know many Palestinian children are still brought up in schools with text books which demonize the Jewish people. How are they supposed to grow up and able to form a balanced objective view?

If the Palestinians can see and experience first-hand that there are Israelis out there who are ordinary people (rather than the crazy stereotypical portrayals they are often taught at home, school and in the media), then perhaps they won’t be brought up to hate and instead will be able to see a way to live peacefully side-by-side with Israelis in the future with their own state. This isn’t just a one way street of course. I think it is also really important for Jews to be brought up not thinking of the Palestinians as ‘the other’, or being desensitized to their humanity and thinking of them as faceless people with whom they have nothing in common.

Just for the record, CCECH is one of a significant number of charities which helps to change minds and bring Jews and Arabs together, and/or helps both populations without discriminating between them.

That Palestinians are brought up with so much hate is all the more worrying when one takes into account the Pew report in 2006 (i.e. prior to Operation Cast Lead and before Israel’s international reputation sank to record depths) which surveyed people in Egypt and Jordan – two of Israel’s friendlier neighbours in the Middle East. The report showed that zero percent of the population expressed a ‘very favourable’ opinion of Jews and only two percent expressed a ‘somewhat favourable’ opinion of Jews. This can be contrasted with an 82 percent who had a ‘very unfavourable ‘opinion and 15 percent a ‘somewhat unfavourable’ opinion. The same poll in Jordan found zero percent with a ‘very favourable’ opinion, one percent with a ‘somewhat favourable’ opinion and 96 percent with a ‘very unfavourable’ opinion and two percent with a ‘somewhat unfavourable’ opinion of Jews.

With statistics like these it would be very easy to say this is a hopeless cause and that there’s no point in even trying change minds. For me, it makes me want to try harder. My triathlon in aid of CCECH, the Jerusalem-based inter faith charity is on 5 June at Blenheim Palace. My aim is to raise £2,500. Please click here to find out more and support me. Thank you for your support.