ANGELA QUINTAL, Durban | Monday
AS Israel and others accused Arab and Muslim countries of hijacking the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, its official delegation in Durban said it was considering a walk-out.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Israel has asked South African President Thabo Mbeki to intervene in the Middle East conflict.
The head of the Israeli delegation Mordechai Yadid told reporters the United Nations conference on racism was part of a Palestinian international offensive to tarnish the name of Israel and the Jewish people.
”We are reaching a stage where we have to reconsider our participation, to consider whether we walk out of this conference.”
He was speaking as a small group of Orthodox rabbis protested outside the press conference venue, calling for Jews and Palestinians to unite against Zionism.
Yadid said Israel was very concerned about its relationship with the UN and had raised these with secretary-general Kofi Annan and others.
”We made it quite clear that we are a critical junction in our relationship with the UN and its different institutions.” However, Yadid said his delegation had not exhausted all diplomatic efforts to ensure that anti-Israeli language in conference documents were removed.
Yadid’s remarks followed a statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres who was quoted by foreign news agencies as saying Israel was seriously considering recalling its delegation from Durban and boycotting the rest of the meeting.
Yadid said his delegations ”red-line” was that the final declaration and programme of action should contain no ”hate language, no singling out of Israel and no condemnations”.
Although government delegations are still negotiating the text of the WCAR’s final declaration and programme of action, both the youth summit and the NGO forum on the sidelines of the conference condemned Israel in their documents.
The youth summit adopted a declaration condemning Israel for ”ongoing and systematic human rights violations against Palestinians”.
The NGO forum went further accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people and of being a racist, apartheid state. It also called for international sanctions against Israel and for Zionism to be equated with racism.
Human Rights Watch reportedly rejected the NGO declaration, while UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson also criticised the declaration saying she regretted the language equating Zionism with racism. – Sapa