Arizona Daily Sun · 3 September 2001

CP-2001-011

Rights forum equates Zionism with racism

By Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press, Durban

Transcribed from the clipping

“The forum’s document brands ‘Israel as a racist apartheid state’ and calls for an end to the ‘ongoing, Israeli systematic perpetration of racist crimes, including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing.’… Shimon Peres said the gathering ‘is an outburst of hate and of anti-Semitism.’ ‘It appears like a camp that has neither understanding nor tolerance nor a message for the future.’ Shawqi Issa, spokesman for the Arab caucus at the forum, thought the document was ‘a very good one.’ ‘It’s just facts. The Israeli government is a racist government . . . and the Israeli government is an apartheid government. These are facts, and we can prove it,’ he said. Mary Robinson… said she regretted the language equating Zionism with racism. Palestinians have the right to protest what they believe to be their victimization, but ‘it is not appropriate that text emerged that revictimizes and is hurtful in itself,’ said Robinson. ‘Israel has committed serious crimes against the Palestinian people, but it is simply not accurate to use the word genocide and wrong to equate Zionism with racism,’ said Reed Brody, the New York-based group’s advocacy director… Black U.S. lawmakers attending the conference expressed disappointment Sunday that criticism of Israel has overshadowed efforts to raise the question of reparations to Africa and African-Americans for slavery and colonialism.”

Context added by this archive

The jump page of the same dispatch, carrying everything the front page did not have room for: the Palestinian who says it is a statement of fact, the human rights director who says it is inaccurate, the UN commissioner who regrets it, and the American congressional delegation watching a conference about slavery reparations get taken over.

Cite this item

"Rights forum equates Zionism with racism," Arizona Daily Sun, 3 September 2001. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2001-011. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2001-011

Elsewhere in the archive

• Rights forum equates Zionism with racismThe Tribune · 3 September 2001 · the same dispatch, carried by another paper
• Palestinians don’t want to give up ‘right of return’The Atlanta Journal-Constitution · 21 January 2001 · the same year
• Palestinians Deserve Rights, Including Right To ReturnHartford Courant · 23 January 2001 · the same year
• Israeli bulldozers strike deep into GazaAnchorage Daily News · 12 May 2001 · the same year