Human rights conference demands Israel's expulsion from UN

Participants in a regional human rights meeting Thursday evening urged the expulsion of Israel from the UN over failure to comply with the organization's resolutions.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher Thursday expressed deep regret over the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories.

"Egypt has spared no effort to scale down tension and revive the peacemaking process," he told the meeting.

Maher condemned anti-Arab and Muslim statements made by some Israeli politicians and lawmakers.

This came in a speech by Maher read out on his behalf by Assistant Foreign Minister Soliman Awad during the opening session of the meeting which is setting the scene for an international anti-racism conference.

Addressing the same forum, Arab League Chief Amr Moussa called for steps to expose the Israeli practices against Arabs in the occupied territories, manifested in collective punishment policies, carving up different parts of the Palestinian land, assassinating leading figures, demolishing homes and destroying agricultural lands.

"Israel is not seeking peace with Arabs. It wants war," Hassan Asfour, the Palestinian Minister of Non-Governmental Organizations told the conference.

He accused successive Israeli governments of adopting racist policies against Palestinians. "Israel is the only country in the world which fights UN resolutions due to qualified support from successive US administrations," he added.

Hani Magali, director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East, urged that more than 50 years of violations of Palestinian Human rights must come to an end. He called for a drive by governments in the area to address the exacerbating problems of refugees in the Arab countries.

The conference will take up a number of issues including Israeli racism, ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Israel, slave trade, discrimination against the-less-privileged, immigrants' situation in Europe, Islam's image in Western media and ant refugee stands.