At a United Nations conference on racism, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told delegates from 153 countries in his opening speech that past victimization of Jews could not excuse Israel's "displacement, occupation, blockade, and now extra-judicial killings" of Palestinians.
Delegates to the UN conference on racism will begin debating the language of draft declarations on Saturday, according to AFP.
The agency characterized the event as being "dominated" by delegates from developing nations - whose citizens make up the overwhelming majority of the human race.
A sidelines forum of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which started last Tuesday will meanwhile end its own negotiations on a radical draft declaration and plan of action to be presented to the UN conference in the South African east coast city of Durban.
The NGOs' draft urged that Israel be declared "an apartheid, racist and fascist state,” with Palestinians allowed to use any means available to resist "a colonialist, discriminatory military occupation,” and called on all nations to acknowledge that slavery was a crime against humanity, and to pay reparations, according to the agency.
Arduous and protracted preparatory meetings in Geneva meetings hammered such contentious language out of the UN drafts, but criticism of Israel remained so "offensive" in Washington's eyes that Secretary of State Colin Powell decided to boycott the meeting, though sources close to him said he would dearly have loved to attend.
A mid-level US team dispatched from Washington is in Durban in a bid to further dilute that language so the United States can avoid a total boycott, and on Friday two US diplomats on post in South Africa occupied US delegation seats at the opening session.
"We are delegates," insisted Judy Moon, spokeswoman for the US delegation, while adding that the manner in which the delegates would participate would depend on "progress" on the language changes.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher told Abu Dhabi satellite channel in an exclusive interview that the Arab group would not push to pass a resolution equating Zionism with racism, but would rather seek condemnation of the Israeli practices against the Palestinians, a topic which dominated the opening day of the UN meeting.
Thirteen foreign heads of state from impoverished nations attended the opening session, along with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, but no industrialized country sent a high-profile politician to represent it, said AFP.
Israel's treatment of Palestinians dominated the opening day of the UN meeting in Durban's International Conference Center, as it has the NGO forum at an adjacent cricket ground, where police have had to intervene several times to separate angry Jews and Palestinians.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the UN delegates from 153 countries in his opening speech that past victimization of Jews could not excuse Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
He noted that "the Jewish people have been victims of anti-Semitism in many parts of the world, and in Europe they were the target of the Holocaust - the ultimate abomination."
"This fact must never be forgotten, or diminished," he said.
"It is understandable therefore, that many Jews resent any accusation of racism directed against Israel - and all the more so when it coincides with indiscriminate and totally unacceptable attacks against innocent civilians.
"Yet we cannot expect Palestinians to accept this as a reason why the wrongs done to them - displacement, occupation, blockade, and now extra-judicial killings - should be ignored, whatever label one uses to describe them," Annan declared, to applause.
However, he said that the world community must set aside individual disagreements and develop a global plan to fight discrimination.
In his address, the secretary general said that failing to reach agreement at the conference would give "comfort to the worst elements in society. But if we can leave with a call to action supported by all, we shall send a signal of hope to brave people who struggle against racism all over the world.
"Let us rise above our disagreements," he said. "The wrangling has gone on for too long."
For his part, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat declared that Israel's "brutality" and "arrogance" were moved by a supremacist mentality of racial discrimination.
"Our tortured Palestinian people, faced with this harsh treatment, with this settler colonization and racial discrimination, look to this conference to stand by us, to stand by justice, by international legitimacy which is now being trodden upon by the Israeli government, the objective of that government being to deprive our people, to force us to our knees in order to continue and perpetrate occupation and racial discrimination," he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, said delegates should focus on its fundamental aims and devise new strategies to fight racism.
"One thing that is clearer to me after the preparations of the past 18 months is how badly we need new strategies to fight racism and intolerance in the modern world," Robinson, who is also secretary general of the conference, said in her opening remarks. "How much misery, inequality, conflict is caused by racism and discrimination? From a human rights point of view, this conference is crucially important. Equality and non-discrimination are central to the pursuit of human rights."
Officially called the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the forum is set to run through September 7 – Albawaba.com
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