Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
Durban 2: Israel girds for battle
Senior officials say latest draft of concluding statement at anti-racism conference still discriminatory
The Foreign Ministry will make an effort to expand the boycott of the "Durban 2" anti-racism conference to be held in Geneva next month. Israeli officials say that the conference will endorse anti-Israel decisions taken in the original 2001 event in South Africa.
Senior diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said that the latest draft prepared ahead of the conference is deceptive and a "UN trick" aimed at including the anti-Israel decisions from the 2001 conference via the backdoor.
"They seemingly attempted to modify the first draft, which prompted Israel, the US, Canada, and Italy to boycott Durban 2," a senior diplomatic official said. "However, in practice, even though Israel is not mentioned by name in the new draft, its first clause endorses the decisions taken in Durban 1. These decisions discriminated against Israel and we won't support this."
Foreign Ministry officials told reporters Wednesday evening that the latest draft, which includes 1,500 clauses dealing with various issues pertaining to racism, does not mention any country or geographic region by name. However, by endorsing the Durban 1 decisions, which explicitly slammed Israel and presented the Palestinians as a victim, the latest draft is still discriminatory, the sources said.
As result of the latest developments, the Foreign Ministry instructed Israeli diplomats worldwide to boost the efforts aimed at prompoting more countries to boycott the upcoming Geneva conference.
