Israel Matzav

Good news: Obama administration withdraws from Durban II

The Obama administration acknowledged reality on one front on Friday: It announced that the United States is withdrawing from the Durban II conference on destroying Israel and that it would have nothing else to do with the preparations. The reason for the decision - according to American officials - is that during the American presence at the preparations a bad document got worse.

Last week, the State Department sent two US representatives to Geneva, where the final document to be issued by conference participants at the end of the conference is being negotiated, the US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has not yet been made.

The representatives - Betty White, a former US ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council, and Felice Gaer, the chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom - held 30 meetings with representatives of different countries and attended the negotiations, the US official said.

While the US presence was warmly welcomed, the US official said that in the negotiations, a bad document got worse.

The United States has decided that it will not participate in further negotiations on the outcome document and will not participate in the conference itself on the basis of the latest text, the US official said.

The Obama administration would reconsider its position if the document improves in a number of areas including dropping references to any specific country, references to defamation of religion which the US views as a free speech issue, and language on reparations for slavery. It also wants a shorter text and does not want the final document for Durban II to reaffirm the final document from the 2001 Durban conference, the US official said.

I'm sure the Durban II people will get right on it.

/sarc

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:43 PM