Intense efforts were under way last night in Durban to salvage what remains of the UN world conference against racism following a damaging walkout by the US and Israel.
The sudden withdrawal of the two delegations four days before the global gathering was due to conclude has dealt a serious blow to the conference.
A bitter row over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which has dogged proceedings for months triggered the walkout.
The Palestinians and Arabs want texts to be adopted by the conference to include condemnation of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians as racist.
The US and Israel fiercely resisted such language, which they said was offensive and inflammatory.
Efforts to end the standoff through negotiations on the fringes of the conference ended in failure yesterday evening. Announcing their withdrawal, angry US and Israeli negotiators blamed Arab extremists for hijacking the conference for political ends.
In a statement released in Durban, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said he had ordered the pullout. "I have taken this decision with regret because of the importance of the international fight against racism and the contribution that this conference could have made to it," he said.
In Jerusalem the Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, formally announcing Israel's withdrawal, asserted that the conference had developed into a forum for "incitement, hatred and lies . . . a festival of war cries . . . an unbelievable attempt to smear Israel".
In a statement issued last night before the Israeli withdrawal was announced, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, said she "truly regretted the decision of the US to leave the conference".
Mrs Robinson, who is hosting the event, urged delegates to persist in their efforts. "I believe that the journey we began must continue until the end of the conference with a view to achieving a successful outcome," she said.
The US and Israel boycotted two previous world conferences against racism in 1978 and 1983.
In a bid to get remaining delegates to surmount the Middle East issue, a fresh round of frantic meetings began in Durban late last night, chaired by the South African Minister for Foreign Affairs and president of the conference, Ms Nkosazana Zuma.