Inside the Durban debacle

By focusing the world on Israeli "apartheid" at the U.N. racism conference, well-organized Arab activists are trying to turn Israel into the South Africa of the 21st century.

By Michael J. Jordan

Sept. 7, 2001 | DURBAN, South Africa -- You're South Africa, or actually the South African National Non-Governmental Organization Coalition, and you're hosting the U.N. World Conference Against Racism. Who do you select to greet the 8,000 delegates representing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from around the globe?

Nelson Mandela? Bishop Desmond Tutu? Wrong.

When conference organizers chose Palestine Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat and Cuban President Fidel Castro to greet NGO delegates, the tone was set for the conference, which has imploded this week over the issue of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and slavery reparations.

The sight of Castro being cheered by an enraptured audience, many of whom waved little Cuban flags-on-a-stick that were distributed beforehand, as he railed against the evils of colonialism, globalization and alleged "genocide" committed by Israel against Palestinians, convinced some observers that the conference would become a place where ultra-left, anti-Israel zealots carried the day.

"I was shocked," said Yuri Dzhibladze, president of the Center for Development of Democracy and Human Rights in Russia. "It showed a very bad understanding of this forum, and the meaning of the term 'human rights.' Listening to Fidel speak, we only had to wonder why the organizers had failed to invite Saddam Hussein, or a representative of the Taliban regime."

Quickly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict took center stage at the more important governmental portion of the U.N. conference. (NGO delegates met separately, and came up with their own, even more anti-Israel conference report.) The issue still dominates Durban, even after the U.S. walked out Monday. The subsequent media spotlight has practically drowned out the myriad causes here, including what should have been the centerpiece issue here: an apology, and perhaps even reparations, for the trade in African slaves.

But some observers say the Durban activism may mark a new phase in the campaign to isolate Israel. The NGO resolution adopted Sept. 1 is particularly harsh, calling Israel a "racist, apartheid" state, guilty of "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing." To use such language in South Africa, where the battle against apartheid drew worldwide support, is no accident; the fine print of the declaration calls for "the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel," plus, the "launch of an international anti-Israel Apartheid movement."

Still, the measure's backers may have overreached: By the end of this week, a backlash was developing against the harsh language of the NGO declaration, which was passed late in the evening and only approved by the roughly 100 NGO delegates left, out of the 8,000 milling about Durban.

Israeli activists and other Jewish delegates began getting support from non-Jews, like Dzhibladze, and this week distanced themselves from an NGO declaration they say was "hijacked."

But Palestinian activists describe the declaration's language and its call for sanctions as "a legitimate action" to pressure Israel.

"Any victim group has a right to fight for its rights and to resist occupation," said Jamil Dakwar, an Israeli Arab staff attorney for Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. ("Adalah" means "justice" in Arabic.)

"And the fact that the Palestinian issue has been highlighted here is not only because of our role," Dakwar continued, "but because it's normal that a just cause against ongoing abuses receives such attention and solidarity from around the globe."

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