Foreign Ministry regrets Durban II, but satisfied original drafts amended

By JPOST.COM STAFF
The Foreign Ministry said Monday it regretted that the UN Durban Review Conference was exploited to focus on a specific conflict "that is exclusively political in nature," but also expressed satisfaction that "accusations and incitement" in the original drafts were omitted from the concluding statement. However, the ministry lamented that the statement did reaffirm the flawed Durban I declaration that "twisted the political nature of the Middle East conflict into an allegedly racist one by describing the Palestinians as victims of foreign and racist occupation." The ministry went on to say that Israel's consistent and principled position that it would not participate in the Durban Review Conference, together with the withdrawal of many other democratic countries, contributed to the improvements that were made in the concluding statement and made the UN consider downscaling Durban-related events in the future.