Accusations Fly As US, Israel Walk Out Of 'Bizarre' UN Conference
By Mark Klusener
CNSNews.com Correspondent
September 04, 2001

Durban, South Africa (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. and Israel have been condemned here for withdrawing from the third World Conference Against Racism.

There was vociferous condemnation from some American non-governmental organizations, along with more muted "regrets" from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, the conference secretary-general.

South African President Thabo Mbeki said he believed the decision to withdraw was an even worse mistake than deciding to send low-level delegations in the first place.

Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Monday that he had taken the decision to recall the U.S. delegation "with regret." He was followed soon afterwards by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

"I am recalling the delegation ... I regret the bizarre show in Durban," said Peres, who shared the 1994 Nobel peace prize with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Powell said he regretted taking the decision because of the importance of the international fight against racism and the contribution that the conference could have made to it.

"However, following talks with the U.S. team in Durban and others, I am convinced that will not be possible," he added.

"I know that you do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing hateful language, some of which is a throwback to the days of 'Zionism equals racism,' or supports the idea that we had made too much of the Holocaust; or suggested that apartheid exists in Israel; or singles out only one country in the world, Israel, for censure and abuse," Powell said.

American civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson criticized the decision.

Speaking to reporters at the conference media center, Jackson said the U.S. government "sends a low-level delegation and a high-profile pullout" simply because of the raging debate over the Middle East.

"We have missed a great moment to address world poverty. As a government we never led from the front."

He said Washington had used the Middle East issue as a tactic to avoid discussing the issues of reparations, slavery and the slave trade.

Jackson was one of several figures who earlier attempted to broker a compromise in the language in those sections of the draft conference declaration which dealt with the Middle East.

After a meeting with Arafat, the Palestinian delegation issued a statement saying they wanted the conference to succeed and would therefore not support calls for Zionism to be equated with racism, a throwback to a U.N. General Assembly resolution passed in 1975 and eventually repealed in 1991.

The international human rights organization Amnesty International also decried the U.S. pullout decision.

"The subjects of the conference go way beyond the issue of the Middle East," said spokeswoman Maya Catsanis. "By walking out mid-conference, the U.S. is letting down victims of racism not only in the Middle East but also worldwide."

U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who is attending the conference, defended Washington's decision.

"Discussions with the Arab and Palestinian groups in Durban on removing anti-Israeli language in the draft conference declaration were unsuccessful," he said.

"They were hell-bent on torpedoing this conference. The conference is destroyed by the Arab groups and not by the US ... This conference has been a conference against Israel and we will not be part of it."

For its part, Israel launched a scathing attack on the U.N., calling comments made by Secretary General Kofi Annan last week "the most racist declaration by a major international organization since the Second World War."

Annan earlier accused Israel of using the Holocaust as an excuse for the continued persecution of Palestinians.

Addressing the conference early Monday, the head of the Israeli delegation, Mordechai Yedid, lashed out at Annan.

"We came to serve the victims of racism, but have witnessed yet another atrocity committed [against us]," he said.