Syria denounced the United States for attempting to scuttle the Arab initiative to include Zionism as a form of racism at the upcoming UN Conference on Racism in Durban South Africa. Ali Abdel Karim, the director of Syria's official SANA news agency was quoted in Tishreen Wednesday as saying that ?Israel is stepping up the killings and the genocide, sparing no living creature in the occupied Palestinian land, whether human or plant? How is it that [the United States] does not revolt against the horrible human rights violations perpetrated by Israel, while it poses as a defender of human rights and a sponsor of the Middle East peace process?" However, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson warned Arab countries on Monday that it would be "inappropriate to reopen this issue in any form" after the 1991 repeal of a 1975 UN resolution equating Zionism with racism.
On Tuesday, the Arab League expressed its intention to use the opportunity of the UN Conference to raise the issue of anti-Arab, racist remarks by Israeli religious leaders and government officials.
On Tuesday, the Arab League expressed its intention to use the opportunity of the UN Conference to raise the issue of anti-Arab, racist remarks by Israeli religious leaders and government officials.