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[Excerpt:]

""It’s a little bit chaotic here," said Gerald Steinberg, chair of political studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, who was at the Geneva conference yesterday as an observer. "A very significant crowd walked out." Steinberg praised Canada for its groundbreaking decision to boycott the event. "It’s the Canadians who went first," he said. "Everybody has been following that." Steinberg dismissed continuing efforts by at least some participating countries to ensure the conference produces a balanced resolution that avoids singling out Israel for criticism about its human-rights record. "I think the text is irrelevant with so many countries staying away," he said. "The text isn’t the problem. It’s the overall atmosphere.""