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News Analysis: Escalating Confrontation Leads to US, Israel Pullout of WCAR
Escalating confrontation witnessed in past 10 or so days has culminated in the withdrawal of the United States and Israeli delegations on Monday from the ongoing World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) here in Durban, South Africa.
U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos, who is leading the U.S. delegation here, said the decision was taken due to "extremist elements hell- bent on torpedoing the conference".
But it is observed that the United States has recently taken similar steps in international forums in an effort to achieve outcomes in its own interests.
Jerry Lee Pott, a civil rights lawyer from the United States, called the U.S. action "disingenuous" and "a subterfuge to cover US concerns", referring to the issue of reparations for slavery and colonialism.
The United States also boycotted the First and the Second World Conference Against Racism over the Middle East issue, which were held in 1978 and 1983 respectively.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is in Washington and not a part of the American delegation, denounced the efforts to condemn Israel in the meeting's proposed declaration, considering the language in the draft declaration as "hateful", while Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said anti-Israel and anti-Semitic comments have made the conference "a farce".
In fact, the pullout of the U.S. and Israeli delegations from the conference had its symptoms several days ago, when the United States made an earlier threat on Sunday that it might withdraw from the conference if the final document of the conference came out as "discriminatory".
Earlier on Sunday morning, thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) meeting on the margin of the World Conference Against Racism here, describing Israel as a "racist apartheid state".
In a final declaration, the NGO Forum accused the Jewish state of "systematic perpetration of racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing".
The declaration, adopted after voting by 3,000 NGOs in 44 regional caucuses, came as shock to Jewish groups. Western diplomats said it further soured the mood at the conference attended by 153 government delegations.
The U.S. and Israeli delegations felt even more pressure when the youth summit, following the NGO declaration, also adopted a declaration of its own accusing Israel of conducting "ongoing and systematic human rights violations" against Palestine.
Jewish groups walked out of the forum in protest after a counter-clause describing these charges as "wildly inaccurate" was voted out of the document.
The declarations climaxed a week of heated confrontation between Jewish and Palestinian groups at the forum. Police intervened several times to keep the two groups apart.
In response, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in Tel Aviv on Sunday that Israel was shocked by the " kidnapping" of the WCAR by Arab countries.
In a written statement to the conference on Monday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior said "the conflict between us and our Palestinian neighbors is not racial" but political and territorial, "and as such can and should be resolved to end the suffering and bring peace and security to the Israeli and Palestinian peoples".
He said "the outrageous and manic accusations we have heard here are attempts to turn a political issue into a racial one, with almost no hope of resolution."
The confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians continued unabated outside the International Conference Center ever since the WCAR began here last week, with Palestinians describing Israel as "an apartheid regime", while Israelis chanting "give peace a chance".
The confrontation has caused widespread worries at the conference. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who is also secretary- general of the conference, both expressed their concerns and gave their warnings.
Following the pullout of the U.S. and Israeli delegations, Annan said he was disappointed at the decision by the United States and Israel to back out from the ongoing intense negotiations, which, he is convinced, with continued good will, can conclude successfully by the end of this week.
Annan expects that progress can be made as delegates strive to harmonize their divergent positions in the search for a consensus text to come out of the conference.
On her side, Robinson said "I truly regret the decision of the United States to leave the conference. Nevertheless, I believe that the journey we began must continue until the end of conference with a view to achieving a successful outcome."
Meanwhile, the South African government issued a statement, saying that South Africa "views the withdrawal of the U.S. delegation or any other delegation as unfortunate and unnecessary".
"Any delegations withdrawing from this process will deny not only this conference of their experience and insight but will also be denying themselves a vital learning experience," the statement said.
Despite the twist, the conference bureau will discuss ways of how to accelerate its work and reach a consensus on the particularly difficult issues relating the Middle East, said President of the conference Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Observers here said following the pullout, the language in the text the United States is attempting to keep out, is more likely to be contained in the declaration.
And, there are even broader questions about the effects on the conference in terms of the Middle East and other human rights issues pertaining to racial discrimination all around the world.
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