Maher heads Egypt's delegation to anti-racism conference
Egypt-Israel, Politics, 8/25/2001

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher will head Egypt's delegation to the UN anti-racism conference, due to open in August 31 in the South African town of Durban.

All UN member states, non-governmental organizations and regional and international organizations will participate in the conference, to be inaugurated by South African President Thabo Mbeki. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will head a high-ranking delegation to the conference.

Egyptian delegation will be joined by Egyptian Delegate to the UN European headquarters in Geneva Fayza Abdul Naga.

Meanwhile, South Africa's ruling National Congress (NC) underlined that the international conference against racism cannot avoid discussing the racist practices of the Israel against the Palestinian people.

As the two previous world conferences mobilized global condemnation of apartheid, delegates to the UN World Conference against racism, which starts in Durban next week, should condemn the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians, said a NC statement issued on Friday.

The struggle of the Palestinian people, led by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), for national emancipation is a struggle against racial oppression, it added. It is a struggle for the realization of their inalienable rights, including the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, said the statement.

The NC recommits itself to solidarity with the Palestinian people and calls on the Israeli government to immediately and unconditionally end:

- Its campaign of murder and terror against Palestinian activists and leaders and the use of live ammunition against civilians.

- Detention without trial;

- Its ongoing gross violations of human rights, and the various forms of collective punishment it imposes on the Palestinian people.

Its illegal and provocative programme of settlement activities.

In Israel, the government classifies citizens as either Jew or non-Jew, said the NC statement

Classifications are stamped into official identity documents. Political, social and economic rights are granted and goods are allocated on the basis of this classification, the statement added.

Such an approach is familiar to black South Africans. It is racist, averred the NC statement

The 1948 and 1967 wars led to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians to neighboring countries and the creation of a Palestinian Diaspora, it recalled.

Previous Stories:
  Egyptian people's committee call for revitalizing boycotting Israel in support of the Intifada   (8/23/2001)
  An Egyptian campaign to prevent receiving the new Israeli ambassador   (8/21/2001)
  Egypt's writers federation urges boycotting American, Israeli products   (8/20/2001)

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