/ 10 September 2001

Mbeki briefed on Middle East ‘powder keg’

Durban | Sunday

PALESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat on Saturday briefed President Thabo Mbeki about the conflict in the Middle East during a bilateral meeting held at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, the presidency said.

”The president was briefed about the situation in the Middle East and that the Middle East is sitting on a powder keg,” representative Bheki Khumalo said.

Both leaders discussed how the peace process should be taken forward.

The 40-minute talks had included how South Africa could best contribute to resolving the conflict in the Middle East, Khumalo said. He did not elaborate.

Earlier on Saturday, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad said he did not believe the Middle East issue was overshadowing the inter-governmental WCAR which began in the city on Friday.

The issue has however dominated the youth summit and the NGO Forum which is related to the WCAR.

The NGO declaration, which was still being negotiated late on Saturday, urged the United Nations to declare Israeli action against Palestinians as ”acts of genocide” and ”ethnic cleansing”.

It also called on the UN to impose sanctions against Israel until it withdrew from all occupied Palestinian territories.

The declaration if it is adopted is not binding.

Also on Saturday, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan told reporters: ”The question of Zionism versus racism is dead. The UN rescinded that a decade ago and I don’t think anyone should wants to open it here or anywhere else. And I think the delegations understand that and those who don’t are beginning to get that very clearly.”

On Friday the Palestinian delegation also distanced itself from calls dating from the Tehran regional preparatory conference for Zionism to be equated with racism.

Palestinian Minister of International Co-operation Nabeel Shaath said his delegation wanted the conference to succeed and would therefore not support such calls.

Israeli ambassador Tova Herzl said in reaction on Saturday that anything that toned down the anti-Israeli language in conference documents would help the WCAR succeed.

However the draft final declaration still contained dozens of condemnations of Israel.

Referring to the opening speeches by several delegates on Saturday, Herzl said some had contained very ”insightful language against Israel” and ”statements that can’t be backed up”.

She described these as very unfortunate.

Herzl said her government had hesitated about sending a delegation until the last minute, but had decided to give the conference a chance.

She did not rule out that Israel would upgrade its delegation, should anti-Israel language be excised from the conference texts, or that it would walk out if this did not occur.

Addressing the conference on Saturday Arafat condemned Israel’s racist practices and said Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was a new and advanced type of apartheid.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said expectations for the outcome of a possible meeting between Arafat and Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres should be reduced.

Fischer and her Italian counterpart Renato Ruggiero also met Arafat earlier on Sunday to discuss the anti-israel language of the proposed final declaration.

French Minister for Co-operation Charles Josselin told reporters that France would not accept equating Zionism with racism as this was counter-productive. – Sapa