September 10, 2001 Vol. 3, No. 28

This Week in New York

Contact Benita Gayle-Almeleh, Director of Community Relations and Special Projects, at bga@thejcpa.org

STANDING TOGETHER WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL

------- SOLIDARITY RALLY

ONLY 13 DAYS UNTIL THE RALLY!!!

THE EXCITEMENT IS GROWING….STAND SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH JEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL!!!!!!!

Will we see you there? "Standing Together" - Solidarity Rally with the People of Israel will take place Sunday, September 23^rd at 1 p.m. along Second Avenue, beginning at 47^th Street, in Manhattan. Please email or call us today to let us know how you’re doing and how we can help. We’ll bring you program updates when information is available. Contact the JCPA today to learn what your community can do!

Got a question about the Rally? Call the Rally Hotline at 212-983-4800, ext. 160, or check UJC’s website at www.ujc.org for answers to frequently asked questions.

YOUR HELP IS CRITICAL: All members of Congress have been invited to participate in the Rally. Help us find out who will be joining us by contacting your Member or Senator asking that they attend. E-mail vanessa.corwin@ujc.org with the official’s name and who from that office should be contacted with information about VIP seating. If your governor or mayor plans to attend, share this information as well.

MEPCA 2001: Introduced by Senators Feinstein (CA) and McConnell (KY), the Middle East Compliance Act of 2001 (S. 1409) calls for imposition on sanctions against the PLO and the Palestinian Authority if the President determines that those entities have failed to substantially comply with their commitments under the Oslo Accords to renounce violence against Israel. If the President determines that the PA is not in compliance with signed agreements, the bill calls for suspension of all non-humanitarian assistance to the West Bank and Gaza and provides the President with two other additional sanctions that he can impose: downgrading the Palestinian information office in the U.S. and denying visas to PLO members and officials. JCPA member agencies are asked to contact Senators and urge that they become co-sponsors of S.1409. MEPCA already has the bipartisan support of more than 16 Senators.

Last Week in Durban

As reported by Reva Price, JCPA Washington Representative

Better Late Than Never? The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance ended Saturday evening more than 25 hours past its scheduled time for adjournment. The delay came over the intransigence of the many members of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) on compromise language relating to the Middle East. After many delegates had already departed Durban, the Arab states agreed to a vote on the new language saying they were doing so only out of respect for Conference host South Africa and an unwillingness to be blamed for the failure of the Conference. The unnoficial vote of 50-38 with 11 abstentions and many absent allowed the conference to conclude. The compromise language lumped all references to antisemitism and the Holocaust into the section on the Middle East regardless of context. The good news is that the documents no longer refer to Israel as a racist state. On the other hand, the language expresses concern about "the plight of the Palestinian people under foreign occupation." In an apparent change in international law, the text "recognizes the right of refugees to return voluntarily to their homes and properties in dignity and safety and urge all states to facilitate such a return." Its placement in the Middle East section sends a clear message and we will have to watch carefully to see what the next steps will be and whether this will lead to a UN General Assembly resolution on the right of return for Palestinians outside of the framework of any peace negotiations. We need to express our appreciation to Guatemala, whose representatives spoke out repeatedly in favor of retaining references to the Holocaust and antisemitism and urging deletion of anti Israel language. Thanks also need to go to Canada which expressed strong reservations to the sections of the documents referring to the Middle East. Excerpts from the documents can be found on the NYTimes website. The full documents will be available in the near future on the UN website at www.un.org/wcar or at www.icare.to.

What Did She Say? Ending a week of speculation in Durban about whether or not nations gathered at the "official conference" would accept the documents written at the NGO forum, we finally got an answer. On Friday, Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner on Human Rights and Secretary General of the Conference said that although she could not recommend the document to the delegates of the Government Conference in its entirety, neither had she rejected it. She noted that it did contain some good sections with regard to the Dalits ("untouchables") of India, hate crimes and crime victims to name a few. However, she explained that several sections were inappropriate and unhelpful, including references to UN resolution 3379 equating Zionism and racism and war crimes. Although the NGO document carries no authority, it cast a shadow over the government conference and empowered the OIC to stand firm until well beyond any reasonable deadline.