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A few weeks ago, a U.N. human rights committee attacked Israel for practicing what it claims are violent interrogation methods on Palestinian prisoners.

The report made headlines all over the world. Israel, which cooperated with the United Nations in its investigation, was accused of torturing inmates with prolonged sleep deprivation and violent shaking.

While we certainly do not condone human rights abuses, the U.N. committee seems to be viewing Israel with a distorted lens, ignoring Israel's own explanation that some of those methods were justified to prevent the mass murder of Israeli citizens.

Strangely enough, the same U.N. committee has been silent during the last two weeks since two Palestinians were found murdered after they had sold land to Israelis. There seemed little doubt that the murders were sanctioned by Yasser Arafat's ruling council.

Palestinian Justice Minister Freijh Abu Medein declared just weeks earlier that Palestinians who sell land to Israel should face the death penalty.

So where is the public outrage? Where are the newspaper editorials lambasting the Palestinians for killing their own people because they sold a few acres of land?

And where is the United Nations? Is Israel's government its only target? The organization's silence in this instance and so many others can only be interpreted as sanctioning Palestinian terrorism, whether aimed at Israel or at innocent Palestinians.

Does anyone care that freedom of the press doesn't exist in areas that Arafat controls? Just this week, a Palestinian journalist with U.S. citizenship was arrested for violating censorship regulations by broadcasting Palestinian legislative sessions live. Where has the United Nations or, for that matter, the media been while Arafat has jailed Palestinians who have spoken out against him?

Too often, Israel faces a double standard in its treatment by both the media and world bodies such as the United Nations. The slightest accusation against Israel takes on major proportions while the violence masterminded by the Palestinians receives little attention.

We have no illusions that this pattern will change anytime soon.