The dramatic walkout of the US and Israeli delegations has dealt a serious, if not unexpected, blow to the global gathering. Whether the conference can limp on to a decent conclusion this Friday will depend on how many other delegations decide to follow suit. There was speculation last night that Canada might be the first to do so.
Last night officials and government ministers were in meetings trying to work out damage-limitation measures.
Even before the gathering of more than 150 states opened last Friday, the Middle East had clearly emerged as the bitterly divisive issue, overshadowing other inter-state rows, including the wording of an apology for the transatlantic slave trade.
At the heart of the standoff were demands by Arab and Islamic states for the texts to denounce Israel's treatment of the Palestinians as racist.
They want delegates to sign up to more than 30 articles that the US and Israel found deeply offensive. These include expressions of "deep concern about practices of racial discrimination against the Palestinians as well as other inhabitants of the Arab occupied territories".
The Americans and Israelis were never going to stomach such words. They had already downgraded their delegations to Durban and symbolically refused to take their seats in the main hall during the opening ceremony last Friday.
Behind-the-scenes efforts to reach a compromise got underway, facilitated by Norway. Negotiations began on the Norwegian proposals on Sunday and continued yesterday morning. But by yesterday evening reports began emerging that the US and Israel had decided no acceptable compromise with the Arab groups was possible.
"It wasn't so much the text of the Norwegian proposal, it was the uncompromising position of the Arab delegates that convinced them," said one close observer.
The US withdrawal has left it open to charges that it has used the Middle East issue as a cloak for its exit as it did not want to face other issues on the agenda, such as reparations for slavery and colonialism.
The angry crowd of US nongovernmental groups staging an impromptu demonstration outside the Durban convention centre last night was of this opinion. They held placards reading "Bush Can't Keep Us Out" and "US Citizens Demand Participation in the World Conference Against Racism".
A small international group was last night appointed by the South African president of the conference to start work immediately on a text on the Middle East that could command consensus from remaining states.
One possibility being discussed last night was that states might agree to remove all the language on the Middle East from the conference document. All delegates could then sign up to a document against racism and discrimination and leave the Middle East to another document.
Mrs Mary Robinson, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights who is stewarding the event, last night urged delegates to persist in their efforts. She quoted the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, who said at the conference opening: "If we leave here without agreement, we shall give comfort to the worst elements in every society".