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World Jewish News
Ahmadinejad to attend Durban 2 anti-racism conference
13.04.2009
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend the United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva in late April, Iran's state-run media reported Monday.
The IRNA website said Monday "the review conference is the follow-up to the 2001 First World Conference on Racism in South Africa which strongly condemned the racist policies of the Zionist regime."
Israel, Canada, and Italy have both decided to boycott the conference, while the United States is reportedly considering taking part.
The conference, to be held in Geneva next month, is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 conference in the South African city of Durban which was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery.
The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that eight-day 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.
An original draft of the closing statement for the conference stated that Israel's policy in the Palestinian territories constitutes a "violation of international human rights, a crime against humanity and a contemporary form of apartheid." A later draft was released that removed criticism of Israel.
Источник: Haaretz
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