July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 24, 2001 - Web posted at 12:19:56 GMT

Arab activists demandend to Israeli 'apartheid'

CAIRO - Arab human rights activists are urging next month's UN racism conference in South Africa to push for an end to Israel's "apartheid regime" as well as racist practices in Arab countries."

"The world community is urged to take on its responsibility to liquidate the last apartheid regime in Israel, as was done with the apartheid regime in South Africa," they said in a statement ending their conference here on Sunday.

"Measures must be taken to force the Israeli apartheid regime to comply with UN resolutions" and respect the rights of the Palestinians, Arab rights activists said in preparation for the August-September meeting in Durban.

Bahedeen Hassan, an organiser of the conference, said activists were not calling on "throwing Israel and the Jews into the sea," but "appealing for an end to Israeli racist practices in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.

""The Cairo declaration also focused on several forms of racism in Arab countries," said Hassan, who heads the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS).

The declaration called for an end o ethnic-driven conflicts and civil wars in Arab countries, such as Sudan.

When the meeting opened on Thursday, Hanny Megally of US-based Human Rights Watch charged Kuwait, Syria, Libya and Gulf Arab states with discrimination such as denying citizenship to some groups or mistreating foreign workers.

- Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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