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U.S. to Boycott "Durban II" UN Racism Conference

[AP/Washington Post] Matthew Lee and Edith M. Lederer - The Obama administration said Friday that the U.S. will boycott an upcoming UN conference on racism unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel. The conference is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 meeting in the South African city of Durban. The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism - the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state - to racism. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the closing statement under consideration mirrored the 2001 draft and was unacceptable. "As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text." At the same time, he said the U.S. would participate as an observer in meetings of the UN Human Rights Council, a body that was shunned by the Bush administration for anti-Israel statements and failing to act on abuses in Sudan and other states.
2009-03-02 06:00:00
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