 Brussels, 2007 Aug 31, Al-Manar
A UN conference, held at the European Parliament in Brussels, heard an array of speakers call for a boycott against 'Israel' and strategize on ways to achieve its international isolation, during the first day of an event billed by organizers as a gathering to promote so-called "Middle East peace".
The 'International Conference of Civil Society in Support of so-called Israeli-Palestinian Peace' has been organized by the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and attracted political figures and pro-Palestinian members of non governmental organizations (NGOs).
According to the Bnei Brith organization, which sent delegates to attend the conference from its European Affairs Office, British Member of Parliament Clare Short said during her speech that 'Israel', was not interested in a two-state solution, and blasted the EU for allowing 'Israel' to build an apartheid wall.
 "The boycott worked for South Africa, it is time to do it again," Short was quoted as saying.
The security fence was also attacked by the European Parliament's vice president, Edward McMillan-Scott, who maintained that it would not bring peace to Israel.
McMillan-Scott added that the European Parliament was committed to "a two state solution with safe borders," according to the Bnei Brith report of the conference.
Addressing the conference on behalf of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Leila Shahid, Palestinian Representative to the EU, read out a statement in which Abbas expressed satisfaction that the conference was hosted by the European Parliament, and lamented the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Pierre Galand, European coordinator of the Committees and Associations for Palestine, said that the conference was taking place despite pressures to cancel it, and blamed the Fatah-Hamas conflict on "Israeli policy".
Adam Mouchtar, Director of Bnei Brith's European Union Affairs Office called on the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to take action to prevent such activities in the future, adding that the actions of UN sub-committees were "delegitimizing the good work the UN is doing in other fields".
Wolfgang Grieger, Secretary of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said that the conference opened this morning with some 400 participants attending, representatives of 140 civil society organizations, members of the European and national parliaments, 53 government observers, as well as 16 intergovernmental organizations, including UN agencies.
"The Committee is very pleased with this big turnout," Grieger said.
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