U.N. Race Conference Stymied

U.N. Race Conference Stymied

NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, Sept. 7, 2001

DURBAN, South Africa - The European Union faced a deadlock Thursday at the U.N. racism conference over language in a draft resolution about Israel that Arab and other Islamic states rejected - and failed to find agreement on wording about slavery.

With today as the deadline for a compromise on the language concerning Israel, the EU reached an impasse over wording acceptable to most parties, British Broadcasting Corp. reported Thursday.

A South African compromise draft, the second one submitted, reportedly omitted reference to Israel as a racist state while recognizing Palestinian rights for a homeland. It also contained wording that the Nazis' Holocaust should not be forgotten.

"This text is completely unacceptable," the Palestinian ambassador to South Africa, Salm al-Harfi, told BBC.

The United States and Israel withdrew from the conference on Monday, citing proposed language that equated Zionism with racism. Zionism is a political movement supporting the establishment of a Jewish nation that originated in the 19th century. The EU has threatened to also withdraw.

Arab and other Islamic states have become incensed over a conflict that has claimed more than 600 lives, most of them Palestinian.

For their part, African nations rejected calls for ending demands for reparations along with an apology for slavery that was conducted by European powers, and enriched white - and black - traders and buyers.

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