LAST WEEKEND, the United Nation's World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, reached a rather horrific point. A yet unfinished declaration by the delegation accused Israel of being a "racist apartheid state," guilty of "war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing." These accusations shocked Jewish and international human rights groups, who moved to dissociate themselves from the declaration. The delegates to the conference should have launched a full investigation of the situation in Israel before making such grave charges as genocide and racism.
The accusation of Israeli racism did not come as a surprise. The conference had come under fire from American, Canadian and Israeli governments for its anti-Israel slant, and so these countries sent only low-level delegations. As of Monday, Israel and the United States are no longer part of the conference. However, the severity of the charges were unexpected.
The delegation that drafted the declaration is composed of roughly 3,000 envoys from around the world. The majority of the delegates voted in favor of the declaration. Either they were misinformed or biased about the Israeli-Palestinian situation. To date, there has not been any hard evidence shown to support any instances of racism or ethnic cleansing.
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The Israeli government has no type of policy advocating the mass killing of Palestinians based on race. There have not been any unofficial military roundups and killings of Palestinians as happened in the recent ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. That is not to say that Israel is completely innocent of war crimes. But then again, neither are the Palestinians. In a similar light, Palestinian terrorist groups could be seen as being racist against Israelis. After all, they set off bombs with the intent of killing as many Israelis as possible solely because they are Israelis.
The fact is that the Palestinians and Israelis are two groups at war. The conflict in the Middle East may not be classified as a war, but there is no other way to describe it. People on both sides are getting killed, not necessarily based on race, but rather because each side is doing its best to kill those on the other side. In any case, both sides are guilty of war crimes: the Israelis for making political assassinations, and the Palestinians for associating with and supporting terrorist groups that kill or maim civilians.
The delegates also should see Israel's actions in context. It is possible that in today's Israel, Palestinians might be treated apprehensively, but recent events such as suicide bombings have prompted fear. Before the most recent conflict began a year and a half ago, seeing a Palestinian would not have raised eyebrows, let alone put people on their guard. Times have changed and people are afraid, but that is no proof that Israel is a racist state.
In many instances, Israel has shown tolerance to many different groups. For instance, the B'Hai, a religious group that has been persecuted around the Arabic Middle East, has found refuge in Israel. Varied peoples, such as the Druze, Christians and Israeli Arabs coexist peacefully. There is even Arab representation in the Israeli government.
It's not the U.N. racism conference's place to accuse Israel of genocide or racism. The conference was put together in an attempt to halt racism, not to make international accusations. The charges that the declaration has stated are very serious matters, but they are substance for a war crimes investigation and tribunal. The racism conference has no jurisdiction over its own charges and is making further conflict out of a conference whose purpose was to minimize tensions.
To prove genocide or that Israel is guilty of being a "racist apartheid state" requires evidence. The U.N. racism conference's declaration makes a great deal of accusations, but does not back up such claims with hard proof. Until any such proof is found, the conference should refrain from making unfounded claims. The delegates should base their decisions on information from authentic sources such as U.N.-based studies or investigations and not on hearsay or circumstantial evidence.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@ cavalierdaily.com.)
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