Hopes raised for race summit success

The US walkout has angered many

UN human rights chief Mary Robinson has expressed hopes that the UN racism conference in South Africa is getting back on track.

She was speaking as moves continued behind the scenes to repair damage done by the US and Israel's walk out over moves to brand Israel a racist state.

The really tough issues don't get agreed until the 11th hour. And I would anticipate that we probably won't put these to bed until sometime on Friday - that's normal

Mary Robinson

The European Union, the Arab League and South Africa met on Tuesday morning to seek a compromise on the dispute.

Mrs Robinson told reporters Tuesday she believed the conference was "back on course, we're steadied" and predicted that discussions would continue until Friday.

"Very often the experience in world conferences is it doesn't happen until the end of the negotiations. ... The really tough issues don't get agreed until the 11th hour," she said.

A spokesman for Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, representing the EU, said: "We want a short, well-balanced text".

"Europe could not agree that the conference support only one part of the [Middle East] conflict."

'Hateful'

The Americans, followed by Israel, pulled out on Monday after failing to have what they termed "hateful" language about the Jewish state removed from meeting documents.

Victims of racism have spoken at the conference, at times breaking into tears

Mrs Robinson, the conference secretary general, caused some confusion when she claimed the US had not entirely pulled out of the conference because its consul general in Durban was still attending.

However, US officials denied this, stressing the consul would attend only as an observer, not a delegate.

By walking out in the middle of the conference, the US is letting down the victims of racism on all sides

Amnesty International

Human rights groups and the host nation, South Africa, have accused the US of leaving Durban without really tackling racism.

European delegates - who like Canada expressed sympathy for the US stance but did not follow their lead - are working to draft a "completely new text" on the Middle East conflict.

"But that does not mean that we are necessarily going to have anything approaching an agreed text on Tuesday," an EU spokesman said.

Mid-East 'red herring'

The conference in the South African port city of Durban ran into trouble when paragraphs criticising Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people came up for discussion.

I think it is unfortunate that the two countries left, and I think that in the long run they will be the losers

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

The draft document stated its "deep concern" at the "increase of racist practices of Zionism and anti-Semitism".

It talked of the emergence of "movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas, in particular the Zionist movement, which is based on racial superiority".

But some have also linked America's departure to issues such as slavery - a question which has already divided Europe's former colonial powers.

One South African minister, Essop Pahad, suggested the Middle East was a "red herring" used by the US to escape "the real issues posed by racism in the US and globally".

Human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said they were disappointed by the US and Israeli decision.

"By walking out in the middle of the conference, the US is letting down the victims of racism on all sides," Amnesty spokeswoman Maya Catsanis said.

Hatred and triumph

On Sunday, a human rights forum coinciding with the conference equated Zionism - the movement which led to the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948 - with racism and called for international sanctions against Israel.

The forum's declaration - which will be presented to the summit organisers for consideration - branded Israel "a racist apartheid state" and called for an end to its "systematic perpetration of racist crimes, including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing."

Yedid: "Despicable caricatures of the Jews fill the Arab press"

Israeli delegate Mordechai Yedid said before leaving that Arab and Islamic states were guilty of racism themselves.

"The outrageous and manic accusations we have heard here are attempts to turn a political issue into a racial one, with almost no hope of resolution," said Mr Yedid.

The Palestinian cabinet secretary-general, Ahmad Abdul Rahman, described Israel's withdrawal as a "triumph" for his people.

The conference had, he said, delivered a "slap in the face of a government that does not believe in peace or political solutions, but depends on military force".

The conference began last Thursday and is due to continue until 7 September.