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Israel declared a racist apartheid state by the NGO
DaSouljah
09/05/01 at 21:08:00
Sunday, September 02, 2001 Israel declared a racist apartheid state by the NGO Middle East Staff Web Posted at: 12:37 pm Non-governmental organisations gathered at the world conference on racism in the South African city of Durban have accused Israel of racist crimes, including genocide. In a declaration presented to the main meeting, the NGOs say that Israel is an apartheid state which practises ethnic cleansing. A BBC correspondent at the conference points out that the NGO declaration was bound to be stronger in its language than anything the 130 countries represented in the main conference would produce. Earlier, African leaders at the conference proper agreed that the West must apologise for slavery and colonialism, but were divided over the issue of reparations. Reparations UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reiterated that the equation of Zionism - support for the existence of a Jewish state - with racism "is dead". He warned that this issue and demands for slavery reparations threatened the conference's outcome. "Apology is intrinsic in the healing process... apology closes the door to bitterness and anger" -Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo A number of European delegations have said they are ready to see strong language adopted on the slavery front, but none that would open them up to major claims from countries that suffered in the past. One of the speakers at the conference, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has come out against reparations. Mr Obasanjo told the delegates an apology would recognise the wrong that was committed against Africans and constitute a promise that such an atrocity would never happen again. With an apology, "the issue of reparations ceases to be a rational option", he said during his formal address to the conference on Saturday. Compensation 'necessary' But President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo said reparations were necessary to compensate for the horrors of the slave trade and colonialism. Africans and people of African descent have noted that compensation is now being paid to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants. They are demanding the same kind of reparations for the descendants of those who were enslaved because they were black. Reparations could come in the form of a cancellation of African debt and greater development aid, some African delegates hope. Cuban President Fidel Castro has supported the call for reparations, saying that countries that made money through human trafficking could afford to pay. Moral duty "This is an unavoidable moral duty," Mr Castro said. President Castro called for slavery reparations The Cuban leader criticised the US for lowering the level of its delegation at the conference because of the discussion of what he called Israeli genocide against Palestinians. "[Nobody] has the right to set preconditions to the conference or urge it to avoid the discussion... [of] the way we decide to rate the dreadful genocide perpetrated, at this very moment, against our Palestinian brothers," Mr Castro said. The delegates have a week in which to reach a consensus that will satisfy both the governments involved and the many interest groups who fear their grievances will not receive proper attention because of the inevitable political horse-trading. Some 6,000 delegates from more than 130 countries have gathered at the conference. But the summit opened with just low-level representation from the US, Canada and Israel in protest at efforts by Arab and Islamic states to condemn Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians. © 1999-2000 Oppression.org. All Rights Reserved. Site designed and maintained by Visual Artifax

Re: Israel declared a racist apartheid state by the NGO
Barr
09/05/01 at 23:24:32
Assalamu'alaikum, Delegates from the US and Israel, pulled out from the summit. If you want to make comments or read others' comments, please click: [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/newsid_1523000/1523749.stm]Should the US and Israel pull out of the UN Conference? [/url] wassalam

Re: Israel declared a racist apartheid state by the NGO
eleanor
09/08/01 at 13:13:20
slm The conference came to a close a while ago. They formally recognised the "plight of the Palestinians" and made a plan of action which is "not going to let the governments off the hook". The withdrawal of the US and Israeli delegations and the determination of the remaining delegates to reach a concensus speaks volumes :) Insha Allah, the world is waking up to the fact that the US does not necessarily have to be the guiding force behind everything. wasalaam eleanor
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