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NEWS
World Summit A Success As South African Jews Prevent
Problems
by D. Saks, South Africa
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which
took place in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September,
has been pronounced a success by Jewish lobby groups. Unlike
at last year's World Conference Against Racism in Durban, in
which virulent anti-Israel and frequently anti-Jewish
rhetoric predominated, the Middle East controversy was no
more than a sideline in Johannesburg. There was also a strong
and active Jewish presence this time round, that both
publicized Israel's achievements in the sustainable
development field and also moved quickly to counter any moves
by pro- Palestinian groupings to seize center stage.
Kay, Yehuda Kay, National Director of the South African
Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and the prime mover behind
the efforts of the Jewish caucus at Durban last year, was
again the kingpin of the Jewish lobbying effort, both in
terms of mobilizing international and local Jewish
organizations and actively participating in the running of
the Summit itself. At the behest of the Board, a major
international meeting of Jewish organizations took place in
Jerusalem in June 2002. The gathering resolved that not only
would every effort be made to prepare for possible attacks on
Israel, but that there should be a positive and meaningful
Jewish, and particularly Israeli, participation in the
conference. The SAJBD was mandated to once more coordinate
the activities of the Jewish caucus, including overseeing the
many logistical arrangements, such as transport,
accommodation, communications facilities and hire of office
space.
While no major onslaught on Israel by pro-Palestinian
groupings took place, there was nevertheless a vocal and
aggressive pro-Palestinian presence throughout the
conference, in particular at the Global (NGO) Forum.
The first three days of the Forum were marked by clashes
between Jewish and Palestinian lobbies, all three incidents
resulting in police intervention. On the first day, Jewish
students staged a protest at a press conference arranged by
the Palestinian Solidarity Committee on the grounds that the
subject of the conference had nothing to do with sustainable
development but was a political issue and therefore
represented an attempt to hijack the WSSD for political point-
scoring purposes. The next day, Palestinian demonstrators
disrupted a presentation on Israel's achievements in the
field of solar energy and the day after, a workshop by the
Jewish National Fund was briefly interrupted by vociferous
Palestinian supporters.
On 31 August, Palestinian supporters participated in a
legally-sanctioned protest march, along with a host of other
groups protesting on a wide array of platforms. Because it
was Shabbos, no Jewish groups took part. The march took place
without incident and the Middle East issue was not given
particular prominence by either the media or those Government
representatives who took part.
The most serious incident took place on Monday, 2 September,
when Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres addressed a mainly
Jewish audience at the Linder Auditorium, the premises of the
University of the Witwatersrand. Palestinian supporters
sought to disrupt proceedings, staging roadblocks, taunting
and intimidating Jewish participants and in a number of cases
throwing bottles and stones. The police eventually forcibly
dispersed the demonstrators, and in the violent
confrontations that followed 14 people were arrested. A
number of people were injured, including a policeman stabbed
in the leg. As a result of the violence, the following
evening's function, at which Minister Peres was due to speak
to the South African Institute of International Affairs, was
cancelled.
A disturbing sequel to the Peres incident has been a slew of
wild conspiracy theories that have since been doing the
rounds in South Africa. Amongst other things, callers on
radio talk shows nationwide have claimed that the police were
acting on behalf of the Jewish Board of Deputies, that they
had threatened to assault a veiled woman on the Board's
instructions and that the Board had its own `secret police'
that was illegally harassing and abusing ordinary people.
Considerable success was attained in arranging for Israeli
spokespeople, both in the agricultural/ environmental and
political fields, to be interviewed on radio, television and
the print media. All forms of media were carefully monitored
throughout the Summit so as to pick up when attacks on Israel
were taking place and respond accordingly.
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