Israel Accused Of Violating Anti-Racism Pact

UNITED NATIONS — As the United Nations and New York Jewish organizations today mark the 15th anniversary of the repeal of a U.N. resolution that equated Zionism with racism, Israeli diplomats in Geneva will be accused of violating an international treaty banning racial discrimination.

Human rights professionals and Israeli officials will attend today's meeting of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva. But representatives from Amnesty International, the Palestinian Arab rights organization Adalah, and the Israeli rights group B'Tselem also will attend, and they are expected to accuse Jerusalem of a host of racist acts.

Also, Arab diplomats who will address the 18-member human rights panel will seek to rekindle anger in the Muslim world about Israeli construction near Jerusalem's Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram a-Sharif, which was halted last week. They will accuse Israel of violating the right of free access to places of worship.

To mark today's anniversary, the U.N. Department of Public Information will hold a seminar, "15 Years After the Repeal of Zionism Is Racism Resolution," in New York. Also, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations will host the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, and the American ambassador, Alejandro Wolff, at an event to mark the anniversary and honor two of the principals in the fight for the repeal at the U.N. General Assembly, the late Senator Moynihan and the late President Herzog of Israel.

"I am not ready to give up that victory," the conference's executive vice chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein, said. "I am also not going to give in to those who want to reverse it now."

Jerusalem considers the Geneva-based anti-racism committee a more professional and less politically oriented body than its parent organization, the U.N. Human Rights Council. Since its inception last year, the council has failed to censure any country for rights violations besides Israel, which has been the subject of eight negative resolutions.

Nevertheless, some are predicting the committee, which is charged with reviewing compliance with an international treaty against racism, will take on a more politicized, anti-Israeli tone today as it discusses Israel for the first time in nine years.

"We do not have anything to hide," the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yitzhak Levanon, told the Jerusalem Post. "We are coming in good faith."

Israel's attempt to repair an on-ramp leading to the site of the two holy mosques in Jerusalem sparked criticism in the Muslim world. The panel and the rights organizations will raise the question of equal access to holy sites, Geneva-based diplomats said.

More than 1 million Muslims worship at the Temple Mount on any given Friday during the holy month of Ramadan, the deputy Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Carmon, said, and repairs to the bridge that allows non-Muslims to reach the site were necessary.