[I heard another report that after Jackson's announcement, Arafat came out with a scathing attack on Israel. I'm looking for that report. OG]

NandoTimes

Palestinians agree to drop criticism of Israel at racism conference

World Conference Against Racism

By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press

DURBAN, South Africa (August 31, 2001 10:57 a.m. EDT) - The Palestinian delegation has agreed to drop criticism of Israel and Zionism in a final declaration for the U.N. conference against racism, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Friday after meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Jackson said Arafat had agreed at the three-hour meeting to oppose efforts to criticize Israel and Zionism, and to recognize the Holocaust as the worst crime of the 20th century.

The Palestinians were not immediately available for comment.

Jackson presented reporters with a handwritten draft of the document signed by Arafat in which he said he did not want the U.N. conference to derail over criticism of Israel.

The racism gathering has been overshadowed in part by anti-Israel language in a draft of the conference document. The United States decided not to send a high-level delegation to the conference because of negative references to Israel and the Zionist movement.

Shortly after making the announcement, Jackson spoke to Secretary of State Colin Powell by telephone to explain the statement Arafat had signed.

Jackson criticized the Bush administration for not sending Powell, noting that he was able to resolve the controversy simply by talking to the Palestinian leader.

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2001

Answers

rafat Lashes Out at Israel as Racism Conference Opens U.N. Officials Lament Focus on Mideast Divisions

[This was, apparently, two and a half hours after the statement by Jackson and confirms that Jackson spoke before Arafat.]

By Pamela Constable Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, August 31, 2001; 1:31 PM

DURBAN, South Africa, Aug. 31--Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat delivered a blistering verbal attack on Israel at a world racism conference here today, but he also reportedly pledged in writing to oppose including any radical statements against Israel in the final conference report and to help ensure that the meeting does not fail.

The conflicting signals came on the opening day of the United Nations Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, where U.N. officials pleaded that the meeting not be allowed to founder in divisive Middle East politics, but thousands of demonstrators outside shouted slogans against Israel and in favor of Palestinian rights.

In his opening remarks to the conference today, Arafat condemned Israel for carrying out a "colonial, racist plot" against the Palestinian people and said he was looking to the conference "to stand by us" against Israeli aggression and discrimination.

In private, however, Arafat reportedly met with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who is a delegate to the conference, and agreed not to press for controversial language equating Zionism, the movement for creation and support of Israel as a Jewish state, with racism.

"We are not interested in raising any ideological issue against Israel. Therefore, we will not support statements against Zionism, nor statements equating Zionism with racism," said a hand-written statement in English and Arabic that Jackson said came from Arafat and his aides.

The statement which said Palestinian officials respect Jews and condemn the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. It also said they want the racism conference to rise above the Middle East issue, adding, "it is too important to let fail."

Jackson said he had sent the statement to U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who was originally scheduled to head a U.S. delegation to the conference but was later ordered not to attend because of what President Bush called "offensive language" against Israel in proposals for the conference's final declaration.

Jackson said that he hoped the new Palestinian statement would help change Washington's mind and that the "labeling of Israel" as a racist state would not be allowed to "divert or divide" the conference. A low-level U.S. delegation has arrived here, but it is not clear if any other officials will attend.

Earlier in the day, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan also pleaded with conference participants to refrain from "mutual accusations" and instead unite against all forms of global racism and discrimination. He said that as victims of antisemitism in history, "many Jews deeply resent any accusation of racism" against Israel, but that the "wrongs" done to Palestinians should also not be ignored.

"Mutual accusations are not the purpose of this conference," Annan said. "Rather than pick on any one country, let us admit that all countries have issues of racism and discrimination to address. "

Outside the conference center, however, demonstrators from South Africa, India and other countries marched and chanted slogans against Israel, many holding up placards that equated Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories with South Africa's former system of racial segregation, or apartheid, during more than 40 years of white rule.

During the peaceful march, Indian untouchables – the lowest members of the Hindu caste system – danced in circles with African students and community activists. South African Muslims paused in the street and held a long, barefoot prayer session, while Islamic clerics exhorted them to champion the Palestinian cause.

"We South African Muslims don't hate the Jews, but we have problems with Zionism and with American support for Israel's nefarious and hegemonic policies toward Palestine," said Maulana Mohammed Rafiq Shah, a Muslim cleric from Durban and a leader of the march. "If the conference cannot raise this issue inside, we will continue to raise it outside."

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2001