U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will not attend the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa at the end of this week. The State Department decision was made after it became clear that much of the content would be anti-American and anti-Israel. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior, who was to have headed the Israeli delegation, said that Israel, too, will not attend the conference, \"although we wished to be there in order to fight racism.\" The U.S. may send a lower-level delegation to Durban, however.
The Americans have made it clear for some weeks now that it would not attend the conference if a resolution equating Zionism with racism was considered. In addition, the U.S. does not want to face Third World demands for reparations to descendants of black slaves. Arutz-7\'s Shai Ben-Tekoa, a historian of the period, notes the hypocrisy of certain countries\' support for reparations, stating, \"Half of the blacks taken out of Africa were taken by Arabs to Arab/Moslem countries... Arab countries such as Sudan and Mauritania continue to hold blacks as slaves, and Saudi Arabia officially banned the practice only in 1962.\"
The Americans have made it clear for some weeks now that it would not attend the conference if a resolution equating Zionism with racism was considered. In addition, the U.S. does not want to face Third World demands for reparations to descendants of black slaves. Arutz-7\'s Shai Ben-Tekoa, a historian of the period, notes the hypocrisy of certain countries\' support for reparations, stating, \"Half of the blacks taken out of Africa were taken by Arabs to Arab/Moslem countries... Arab countries such as Sudan and Mauritania continue to hold blacks as slaves, and Saudi Arabia officially banned the practice only in 1962.\"