Durban+II

=Background= Durban I was a meeting set up by the World Conference against Racism (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa was entitled "World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance." However, the participating countries primarily focused on the Middle East, spending a great deal of time criticizing Israel for their actions against Arabs. Israel and The United States walked out halfway through the conference because of a draft resolution which singled out Israel for criticism and compared Zionism to racism.

Durban II
On April 20-24, 2009, another conference by the WCAR or Durban II will be held in Geneva, Switzerland. Canada, Israel, Italy, and The United States already pulled out of the conference because many of the anti-Israel issues are reemerging. Now the European Union is also thinking about pulling out (see second link below). On Tueday March 17 the UN claimed that they have taken out certain refrences to Israel. This comes after the European Union (EU) threatened to pull out and they are trying to entice them into rejoining. The United States, Canada, and Italy will most likely not rejoin but no one is certain what will happen to the EU ([]). The UN has now removed its new references to Israel and defemation of religion. The EU still will not say if they will attend Durban II or not ([]). As of Satuday April 18 the United States has released a statement saying that with regret they will boycott Durban II ([]). Australia, Germany, Poland, New Zealand and the Netherlands are also boycotting the convention ([]). During a speech on Monday April 20 Iranian Presiedent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime." Ahmadinejad also blamed the United States invasion of Iraq on a zionist conspiracy ([]). He also said "following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless on the pretext of Jewish sufferings and the ambiguous and dubious question of Holocaust" in reference that Western countries caused Palestinean suffering because of the holocaust. During Ahmadinnejad's speech some 40 delegates from over 20 countries and some nongovernmental orginazations (including all European Union countires present) walked out ([]).
 * The Conference**

Click below to see more information on Durban II and what they are saying about Israel []

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 * Much of the information on this page have been taken from online sources and we are not responsible for any misinformation**