ARAFAT TRIPS UP JESSE

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Arafat Trips Up Jesse Slams Israel after rev. says he wouldn't

By DON SINGLETON Daily News Staff Writer

Hours after the Rev. Jesse Jackson said yesterday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had agreed not to condemn Israel at a UN racism conference in South Africa, Arafat spewed some of his most vitriolic anti-Israel rhetoric to date.

The Palestinian leader, in an opening day address at the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, called on delegates to condemn Israel's "colonial, racist plot" and accused the Jewish state of fostering violent anti-Palestinian racism.

Aides to Arafat said Jackson had been "overzealous" in saying their chief had agreed to tone down his bombast.

The conference was already facing controversy because of a proposed resolution that would condemn Israel and advocate reparations for slavery and colonialism.

Efforts to delete the language before the conference failed, and as a result, the U.S., Canada and Israel refused to send high-level delegations.

U.S. diplomats did not participate in formal discussions yesterday, but they worked the halls in an effort to persuade other delegations to avoid condemning Israel.

In Washington, the White House warned that the delegates would go home early if it appeared their effort would fail.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said he felt the U.S. should have sent a delegation with more clout.

"We want to fight this [proposed anti-Israel resolutions], and there is a good chance, following the diplomatic efforts over the last few months, that most of the countries would not accept these resolutions," he said.

In the meantime, the language was harsh.

"Condemnation of the Israeli occupation and its racist practices and laws, which are based on racism and superiority, is considered today an urgent demand by our people," Arafat said at a roundtable of leaders assembled for the conference. "This brutality and arrogance are moved by a mentality of superiority that practices racism and racial discrimination, that adopts ethnic cleansing."

Earlier, Jackson had produced a document he said was signed by Arafat that said the Palestinians did not want the conference derailed by attempts to criticize Israel. Later, he said Arafat had agreed to the statement but did not sign it.

Nevertheless, he was so confident that the Palestinian leader would pull his punches, he telephoned Secretary of State Powell with the news.

Powell, the first African-American secretary of state, had wanted to attend the conference but decided to boycott it because of the possibility of an anti-Israel declaration.

Palestinian official Nabil Shaath acknowledged writing the agreement Jackson cited but said it did not commit the Palestinians to not seek the condemnation of what he called Israeli "racist practices."

"We have taken out any attack on Zionism as such, and we are not labeling Israel as a Zionist state," Shaath said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a plea for delegates to look beyond their individual disputes and develop an international plan to combat prejudice.

"If we leave here without agreement, we should give comfort to the worst elements in society," he told delegates from 166 countries and hundreds of human rights organizations.

About a dozen heads of state attended the opening ceremony, including Fidel Castro of Cuba, Joseph Kabila of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.With News Wire Services

Original Publication Date: 9/1/01

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001


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