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Pretoria Says "Zionism as Racism" Divide Could Be Solved
GENEVA, Aug 6 (News Agencies) - A bitter debate over calls by some Muslim and Arab countries for Zionism to be equated with racism at an upcoming U.N. conference can be resolved if states show some "give and take", South Africa's foreign minister said on Monday.
Nkozasana Dlamini-Zuma said she believed a solution could be reached on the issue, which has already put the United States' attendance at the conference in doubt, if delegates were to show flexibility.
"I think this issue is not an insurmountable problem if everybody is willing to negotiate, to engage with the issue, to find a solution in a spirit of give and take, in a spirit of flexibility and tolerance," she told a news conference here.
However, some countries still appeared to feel strongly that language on Zionism should be included in the final texts to be adopted by the conference, which refer to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Middle East conflict has been one of the major sticking points in lengthy negotiations to pave the way for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, which opens in Durban, South Africa, on August 31.
Calls by African nations for some kind of compensation to be paid to the victims of the slave trade and past colonial practices is also proving to be a thorny topic.
The group of African countries has produced a document; a so-called 'non-paper' to try to smooth over differences on the slavery issue, which Dlamini-Zuma said reflected their "bottom lines".
It is being circulated to other countries for their response.
"There must be recognition of the fact that a lot of the problems we are facing now are as a result of those practices," she said in reference to slavery, adding there was also a need to end that chapter of the past.
The United States has threatened to stay away from the conference if the two items remain on the agenda. Washington boycotted two earlier U.N. conferences in 1978 and 1983 because of a similar provision on Zionism.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson has warned Arab countries to back away from demands to equate Zionism with racism, warning that to try to do so at Durban could put the conference at risk.
Dlamini-Zuma told reporters that from her talks with delegations, she believed nobody felt the matter was "a matter of life and death".
"But I think there are countries which feel strongly that something must be said about the situation in the Middle East," she added.
"They don't feel strongly about that particular phrase of Zionism as racism, but they do feel strongly that with what is going on the ground in the Middle East, it would be very difficult not to say anything on that issue," she said.
Negotiations which entered their second week here on Monday to draw up the draft declaration and program of action were taking place in a "much more positive spirit", the foreign minister said.
Evening sessions are to be added to the schedule to try to cover as much ground as possible before the Durban meeting.
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