US abandons racism summit

UN World Conference Against Racism 

3 September, 2001

Middle East conflict has spilled over to Durban's streets

The United States and Israel have pulled out their delegations to the UN conference on racism after failing to have "hateful" language removed from meeting documents.

"I have instructed our representatives to the World Conference Against Racism to return home," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement, adding that he had taken the decision with regret.

The conference in the South African port city of Durban reached deadlock on Monday when paragraphs criticising Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people came up for discussion.

Arab and Islamic countries want Israel singled out for condemnation in the conference's final declaration and have rejected a compromise text proposed by Norway and backed by the US.

A statement from the South African government called the US withdrawal "unnecessary" and said the conference would continue.

Mr Powell had already boycotted the event, but a mid-level US diplomatic team had been sent to Durban where it was heavily involved in behind-the-scenes efforts to amend the wording - although they took no public role in the conference.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the activities at the South African conference an "unbelievable attempt to smear Israel."

"An important convention that's supposed to defend human rights became a source of hatred," he told a news conference in Jerusalem.

'Racist crimes'

On Sunday, a human rights forum coinciding with the conference equated Zionism - the movement which led to the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948 - with racism and called for international sanctions against Israel.

The forum's declaration - which will be presented to the summit organisers for consideration - branded Israel "a racist apartheid state" and called for an end to its "systematic perpetration of racist crimes, including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing."

Israeli delegate Mordechai Yedid made a strongly-worded speech to the conference on Monday saying Arab and Islamic states trying to label Israel and Zionism as racist were being anti-Semitic themselves.

"The outrageous and manic accusations we have heard here are attempts to turn a political issue into a racial one, with almost no hope of resolution," Mr Yedid said.

Amr Moussa - the former Egyptian foreign minister who now heads the League of Arab States - warned against the issuing of a final declaration in which too much weight was given to one side.

"What is the use of the document that will be tilted to one or the other. It will just be condemned and thrown away and not implemented at all," he said. Read more...


What is the use of the document that will be tilted to one or the other. It will just be condemned and thrown away

Arab League head Amr Moussa