THE US State Department has withdrawn all CD-ROM copies of its annual human rights report due to a one-word error that overstated the extent of Israel's rights abuses, officials have said.
The embarrassing mistake – which is sure to raise eyebrows in the Arab world – was not caught until the department noticed that some media accounts of the report had quoted from a draft version of the Israel section, they said. The draft had been erroneously placed on the CD-ROM, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
"It was an honest mistake," said one. "There was nothing intentional or devious about it."
The final and correct version of the section on Israel has been posted on the department's website (www.state.gov).
On the CD-ROM version, the report says: "Israel's overall human rights record in the occupied territories remained poor, and worsened in several areas as it continued to commit numerous, serious human rights abuses."
The revised, final version of the Israel section omits the word "numerous" from the sentence."
