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August 17, 2001/Av 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.45
Parties seek common ground for Durban
MICHAEL J. JORDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - As Jewish activists scramble to block an effort to resurrect the "Zionism is Racism" canard, they also are working to defuse potential problems with the black community over the issue of slavery reparations.
In the run-up to the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, slated to begin Aug. 31 in Durban, South Africa, attention has focused on the Arab campaign to single out Israel as a racist state perpetrating a holocaust against the Palestinian people.
In response, pro-Israel advocates have enlisted as many allies as they can find - including America's mainstream black leadership.
Lost in the shuffle, however, has been the cause celebre of some black leaders: forcing the U.N. conference to address the legacy of slavery, even holding the Western powers accountable for their historic role in the slave trade.
That has placed American Jewish activists in an awkward position.
Jews have relied on the Bush administration to lobby against the attempt to denigrate Zionism as racism, as well as other perceived anti-Israel or anti-Semitic wording.
The administration has threatened that if such wording remains on the conference agenda the United States may boycott the conference, keep Secretary of State Colin Powell at home or send a lower-level delegation of diplomats.
Indeed, for Powell, America's first black secretary of state, to attend would be "a prize for the conference," one Jewish activist said.
For that very reason, the U.S. congressional black leadership insists that Powell attend to deal with the slavery issue, despite the anti-Israel rhetoric.
In exchange for their support for the Jewish cause - and to maintain harmony in occasionally bumpy relations - some blacks want Jews to stand with them on slavery, which in Durban may include a demand for reparations.
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