Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, explaining the Israeli decision to withdraw from the World Conference Against Racism in Durban yesterday, said, \"We regret very much the very bizarre show in Durban. An important convention that was supposed to defend human rights became a source of hatred, a show of unfounded accusation, a reverse to every responsibility on the international arena...
\"In 53 years since the establishment of Israel, we were attacked five times with an attempt to overpower us and to bring an end to the State of Israel. We stand alone, outnumbered, outgunned, and we defended our lives. We won all the wars, we won a lot of territories. We gave back the territories, the water, the oil to Egypt. We gave back the land, the water to Jordan. We have withdrawn unilaterally from Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425. We offered to the Syrians an exchange of land for peace. We have offered the Palestinians something that no Arab country did before us, because the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were under Arab control. We offered them an independent state. We offered them to withdraw from most of the territories. We offered them a position in Jerusalem. They have rejected it. Instead, there was the intifada, and even today there were four bombs in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.
\"I want to thank the United States of America that took an extremely courageous position in favor to make the world look more responsible, more balanced, more truthful... I want also to express my thanks to 43 countries that took a clear position against this unbelievable attempt to smear Israel with false colors - among them, in addition to the United States: the Republic of Russia, India, the members of the European Union, the countries of East Europe, most of the countries in Latin America, many countries in Africa.
\"We know there are two leagues which began leagues of hatred to Israel - the Arab League, which calls for belligerency, for boycott, for severing relations, for bringing an end to the peaceful efforts; and the Moslem League... One bloc that usually voted against us, the bloc of nonaligned nations, was this time broken into pieces. Many of its most important members voted against the Arab proposals, [but] I am not surprised that some of them remained as old-fashioned and as prejudiced as they used to be in the past.\"
Peres explained afterwards that the 43 countries to which he had referred did not officially vote, but rather \"expressed themselves against the proposal.\"
\"In 53 years since the establishment of Israel, we were attacked five times with an attempt to overpower us and to bring an end to the State of Israel. We stand alone, outnumbered, outgunned, and we defended our lives. We won all the wars, we won a lot of territories. We gave back the territories, the water, the oil to Egypt. We gave back the land, the water to Jordan. We have withdrawn unilaterally from Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425. We offered to the Syrians an exchange of land for peace. We have offered the Palestinians something that no Arab country did before us, because the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were under Arab control. We offered them an independent state. We offered them to withdraw from most of the territories. We offered them a position in Jerusalem. They have rejected it. Instead, there was the intifada, and even today there were four bombs in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.
\"I want to thank the United States of America that took an extremely courageous position in favor to make the world look more responsible, more balanced, more truthful... I want also to express my thanks to 43 countries that took a clear position against this unbelievable attempt to smear Israel with false colors - among them, in addition to the United States: the Republic of Russia, India, the members of the European Union, the countries of East Europe, most of the countries in Latin America, many countries in Africa.
\"We know there are two leagues which began leagues of hatred to Israel - the Arab League, which calls for belligerency, for boycott, for severing relations, for bringing an end to the peaceful efforts; and the Moslem League... One bloc that usually voted against us, the bloc of nonaligned nations, was this time broken into pieces. Many of its most important members voted against the Arab proposals, [but] I am not surprised that some of them remained as old-fashioned and as prejudiced as they used to be in the past.\"
Peres explained afterwards that the 43 countries to which he had referred did not officially vote, but rather \"expressed themselves against the proposal.\"