Rheiner Weitz
Friday, Aug. 31, 2001

Hate speech and slogans denigrating Israel are marring the NGO forum as Palestinian support groups are trying to win over delegates in an attempt to isolate Israel even further. Already the U.S. has decided not to send a senior delegation to attend the main conference.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday sent a team of midlevel diplomats to avoid a total U.S. boycott of the conference.

It would seem that the Palestinian effort is in a stark contrast with the purpose of this conference, where the stated objectives are to promote human dignity.

It is now clear that even before the main conference is set to start that the Palestinian issue has taken over as the main point on the WCAR agenda.

The whole drive behind this campaign is that the Palestinians want Israel to be labeled an apartheid state, and on every banner, sticker and T-shirt the slogans read "Free apartheid Israel.”

15,000 Anti-Jewish Protesters

More than 15,000 protesters are expected to participate today in a protest march against an "apartheid Israel.” The march, which had been planned to be a march against globalization, will now be used to launch International Movement Against Apartheid Israel (IMAAI), according to the global coordinator of the march, Salim Vali of IndyMedia.

Reuters news agency reported Thursday that a news conference planned by 20 Jewish groups was disrupted by Arab and Islamic delegates, who noisily denounced the Jewish representatives as racist for the killings of Palestinians.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the NGO forum that a solution to the Middle East crisis would have to be political. ``We do not see a military solution, and it has to be based on land for peace,'' he said.

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