Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- Europe strengthens position on Middle East at racism conference DURBAN, South Africa, Sept 4 (AFP) - European countries, trying to salvage a global racism conference after the abrupt departure of the United States, strengthened their credibility Tuesday as viable mediators in the Middle East as they worked on a new conference text on the region. The United States and Israel both pulled out of the UN World Conference Against Racism here late Monday after failing to obtain the removal from final declarations of language harshly critical of the Jewish state's treatment of Palestinians. That has led Western countries to reassess their own continued attendance at the conference in Durban, on South Africa's east coast. "Yes, we know we could fail at any moment (to produce a text acceptable to the conference as a whole)," a source close to the discussions told AFP. "But at least, if we leave, we will have tried, and in that case we shall explain clearly, from Durban, the reason for the failure." The effort to draft a "completely new text" started at midnightMonday) in a hotel across the road from the International Conference Centre between South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in the chair, Belgian Foreign Minister Mouis Michel, who is president of the council of the European Union, and Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa. "The aim is to draft a text which will be put to an expanded working group which will include countries from the different continents, the source said. After the US and Israeli walk-out, Michel announced that "the European Union has decided to remain united" on the issue as it worked on drafting "a completely new text that could lead to a consensus." Western diplomats say that European countries have felt for some weeks that they have a card to play in the Middle East as violence has escalated, with the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy visiting the region recently, and France's Hubert Vedrine due to go there later this month. But the text-drafting in Durban is a high-stakes poker game, analysts say. If no text can be found that is acceptable to all delegations remaining, a more than likely possibility, then the blame, in the absence of Israel, is bound to fall on the Arab bloc and the Palestinians, which would complicate Europe's relationship with them. On Tuesday, the European Union appeared to have convinced the 13 candidate-countries to unite with it on the issue. Among those candidates is Turkey, which has good relations with Israel. "In all, that makes 28 united countries which will stay or leave together," a source close to the negotiations told AFP. They had set themselves a 24-hour deadline to assess the first drafts of the new text before deciding whether to stay in Durban or go, the source added. The European countries will reject any text equating Zionism with racism or which explicitly condemns Israeli policy, the source said. They would be satisfied with a text that called for an end to the violence in the Middle East, but highlighted the difficult situation facing the Palestinians. Michel, who had earlier planned to leave the conference on Tuesday, has decided to remain until Friday, an aide told AFP. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
