Negotiators at the UN World Conference against Racism broke off talks on the Middle East early Thursday after failing to agree on a new text, but mandated South Africa to produce another after daybreak, a European spokesman told AFP.
They are trying to salvage the conference in Durban, South Africa, after the United States and Israel walked out on Monday over harsh condemnation in an original draft text of the Jewish state's treatment of Palestinians.
Western media coverage has focused almost exclusively on the dispute among the delegates, while sidelining any examination of charges that Israel maintains apartheid-style domination of both its own Arab populace and residents of the Occupied Territories.
The talks, which had been scheduled to last until 6:00am, but ended around 1:00am, "were not a success, but not a failure," maintained Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koen Vervaeke.
"There was no rupture," he told AFP, adding that the European Union countries, which earlier made it clear that they would walk out if the negotiations failed, would remain in Durban at least until Thursday morning to assess the final South African text.
Disagreement over how to refer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in conference documents threatened to derail efforts to come to a global agreement on how to fight racism.
The European Union has rejected attempts by the Arab League to characterize Israeli practices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as racist, said Haaretz newspaper.
Vervaeke said a special drafting committee, which included the Europeans and the Palestinians, finished work Wednesday night without reaching a compromise. He said the EU had given South African mediators their position and was now waiting to see what kind of text they could come up with.
Arab leaders have said a declaration that does not criticize Israel would be meaningless.
"We still have hope, but unfortunately our partners from the EU group are not flexible," said Salman El Herfi, Palestinian Authority representative in South Africa.
On Wednesday Vervaeke told Haaretz: "There's no ultimatum for any particular hour. But we've made it clear that we need to achieve a feeling of progress and that we have a basis for continuing within a reasonable time frame."
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said in a speech before Parliament Wednesday that his country would pull out of the conference if the anti-Israeli clauses were not deleted. Reuters later quoted sources in the French delegation in Durban as saying that all of the EU countries would abandon the conference if these statements were not removed.
At the same time, Belgium (which currently holds the presidency of the EU), Norway, Namibia, South Africa and the organization of Muslim states discussed a South African proposal Wednesday to re-formulate all of the items referring to the Middle East. The Belgian foreign minister has kept Israel's Foreign Ministry informed about the latest developments at the conference, said Haaretz.
According to the office of Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior, the reports from the Belgian diplomat indicate that "the atmosphere is a little more optimistic than on Tuesday, but there is still a long way to go." - Albawaba.com
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