As the son of a Palestinian refugee expelled from his native homeland, there are few things I cherish more than my gift of freedom. However, being born and bred in Australia has not shielded me from being tagged with a label that is the unfortunate lot of all first-generation Palestinians. To some, we simply do not exist, and when we do, we are terrorists, animals or sub-human.

Such deliberate misrepresentations and stereotypes are constantly propagated, but to read unsubstantiated claims about Palestinians in a serious newspaper (Julie Szego, Comment, 3/3) was highly offensive.

Over the years, Palestinians have been accused of terrible things. The Israelis claim that we use our children as human shields. Despite propagating this lie repeatedly, Israel has never provided conclusive proof of it. Nonetheless, the lie has come to be accepted as ''truth''.

Yet contrary to such misconceptions, Amnesty International says in its report ''Israel/Gaza Operation 'Cast Lead': 22 days of death and destruction'' that it was Israeli soldiers who used Palestinians as human shields.

Amnesty's conclusion was unambiguous. It "did not find evidence that Hamas or other Palestinian groups violated the laws of war to the extent repeatedly alleged by Israel … In particular, it found no evidence that Hamas or other fighters directed the movement of civilians to shield military objectives from attacks." But it did find ''that Israeli forces on several occasions during Operation 'Cast Lead' forced Palestinian civilians to serve as 'human shields'.''