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Israel prepares for expected racism conference attack
Erik Schechter

Israel is getting ready for a nasty fight against a U.N. draft document that accuses it of "ethnic cleansing" and redefines anti-Semitism as "Zionist practices against Semitism," meaning Arabs. The outrageous statements are part of a resolution proposed by Arab and Muslim states for the U.N.�s Third World Conference against Racism, due to take place in Durban, South Africa, in late August.

Israeli diplomats equate the draft with the infamous 1975 General Assembly Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism. "We�re facing a major challenge by Arab countries to totally delegitimize Israel and the Jewish people," says Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior, who will be heading the national delegation to Durban.

Adoption of the text, Melchior warns, would be a final nail in the coffin of the peace process. "The moment that one side is turned into absolute evil," he contends, "there is no one left to make peace with. It legitimizes terrorism."

The Foreign Ministry, though, thinks that the resolution won�t necessarily get the support of many Third World countries, which in the 1970s and 80s might have automatically backed any Arab anti-Israel move. "African countries want to push for reparations for the slave trade; they don�t want this conference to be sidetracked by Jews and Arabs," says one ministry source. In fact, says Melchior, demonizing Zionism would sabotage the U.N.�s own anti-racist efforts. "If everything�s racism," he says, "then nothing is racism."

In addition to the developing countries, Israel has been concentrating its efforts on winning over democracies. "The U.S. is working just as hard on this as we are," says Melchior.

One other section of the proposed text downgrades the Holocaust by referring to "holocausts" in lower case and plural. Asked if Germany supports Israeli opposition to these clauses, Melchior says, "It stands with us. We just don�t know how hard it will fight."

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