This paper is a critique of the assessment of the US State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices regarding the 1991 human rights situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Such reports are produced annually, as mandated by the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, in order to provide the US Congress with a "full and complete" report "with respect to practices regarding the observance of and respect for internationally recognized human rights." In its 1991 report, the State Department assesses the situation, and fails to further the human rights debate regarding how the Palestinian population can be provided with the international protection to which it is legally, morally and politically entitled.