Description

A statement by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority grew out of a meeting with a rabbi. Credit Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
_____

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called the Holocaust the "the most heinous crime against humanity in modern history" and extended his condolences to the "families of the victims and the innocent people who were killed by the Nazis including the Jews and others."

The statement, which came on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, marks one of the most high profile declarations from a Palestinian leader on the systematic Nazi killing of more than 10 million civilians, including the genocide of around six million Jews, during and immediately prior to the second World War.

Abbas stressed in a statement that the "world must do its utmost to fight racism and injustice in order to bring justice and equality to oppressed people wherever they are."

"The Palestinian people, who suffer from injustice, oppression and denied freedom and peace, are the first to demand to lift the injustice and racism that befell other peoples subjected to such crimes," he added.

The president also touched upon the current political moment, saying: "On the incredibly sad commemoration of Holocaust Day, we call on the Israeli government to seize the current opportunity to conclude a just and comprehensive peace in the region, based on the two states vision, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security."

The statement came during a conversation with American Rabbi Marc Schneier, and was released in Arabic and English to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is marked in Israel beginning on Sunday evening.

For many Israeli Jews, Palestinian recognition of the widespread killing of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust is considered important because it entails recognition of the historical trauma suffered by the Jewish people.

Palestinian leaders, however, have not historically made statements on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, pointing out that Palestinians had nothing to do with the tragedy.

Additionally, because Israel often cites the Holocaust as a major reason underlying the need for a "Jewish state" in historic Palestine, many Palestinians are sensitive to potential suggestions that the genocide of Jews by Nazi Germany mandates or justifies their own dispossession by Israel.
Print
____________

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The prime minister of Israel on Sunday dismissed President Mahmoud Abbas' remarks mourning victims of the Holocaust as a public relations stunt aimed at placating the international community.

Benjamin Netanyahu also told his cabinet that Abbas should choose between his agreement to form a unity government with Hamas and make a true peace with Israel.

"Instead of issuing statements designed to placate global public opinion, Abu Mazen (Abbas) needs to choose between the alliance with Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust, and a true peace with Israel."

He added: "We hope that he will disavow this alliance with Hamas and return to the path of true peace."

Earlier Sunday in Ramallah, Abbas called the Holocaust the "the most heinous crime against humanity in modern history" and extended his condolences to the "families of the victims and the innocent people who were killed by the Nazis including the Jews and others."

Abbas' remarks, which came on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked one of the most high-profile declarations from a Palestinian leader on the systematic Nazi killing of more than 10 million civilians.

In his own statement, Abbas stressed that the "world must do its utmost to fight racism and injustice in order to bring justice and equality to oppressed people wherever they are."

"The Palestinian people, who suffer from injustice, oppression and denied freedom and peace, are the first to demand to lift the injustice and racism that befell other peoples subjected to such crimes," he added.

The president also touched upon the political moment, saying: "On the incredibly sad commemoration of Holocaust Day, we call on the Israeli government to seize the current opportunity to conclude a just and comprehensive peace in the region, based on the two states vision, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security."

For many Israeli Jews, Palestinian recognition of the widespread killing of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust is considered important because it entails recognition of the historical trauma suffered by the Jewish people.

Palestinian leaders, however, have not historically made statements on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, pointing out that Palestinians had nothing to do with the tragedy.

Additionally, because Israel often cites the Holocaust as a major reason underlying the need for a "Jewish state" in historic Palestine, many Palestinians are sensitive to potential suggestions that the genocide of Jews by Nazi Germany mandates or justifies their own dispossession by Israel.

_________

ERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority issued a formal statement on Sunday calling the Holocaust “the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era” and expressing sympathy with victims’ families.

The statement, which grew out of a meeting a week ago between Mr. Abbas and an American rabbi who promotes understanding between Muslims and Jews, is the first such offering of condolences by the Palestinian leader.

Mr. Abbas has been vilified as a Holocaust denier because in his doctoral dissertation, published as a book in 1983, he challenged the number of Jewish victims and argued that Zionists had collaborated with Nazis to propel more people to what would become Israel. A senior Israeli minister, incensed at quotations from Hitler highlighted on Facebook pages affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, denounced Mr. Abbas earlier this year as “the most anti-Semitic leader in the world” at a conference in Tel Aviv.

Mr. Abbas had already backtracked from the book, saying in a 2011 interview that he did “not deny the Holocaust” and that he had “heard from the Israelis that there were six million” victims, adding, “I can accept that.”

But the statement published in English and Arabic on Sunday morning by Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, goes further, describing the Holocaust as “a reflection of the concept of ethnic discrimination and racism, which the Palestinians strongly reject and act against.”

“The Palestinian people, who suffer from injustice, oppression and denied freedom and peace, are the first to demand to lift the injustice and racism that befell other peoples subjected to such crimes,” Mr. Abbas said. “We call on the Israeli government to seize the current opportunity to conclude a just and comprehensive peace in the region, based on the two states vision.”

Officials at Yad Vashem, the center for Holocaust research in Jerusalem, declined to respond to the statement until it was officially issued. They questioned whether it would also be published in Arabic (yes) and whether there would be any discrepancies in the two statements (no).

The timing — on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day and two days before the scheduled expiration of deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace talks — turned out to be terrible.

Last week, the Palestine Liberation Organization, of which Mr. Abbas is chairman, moved to repair its seven-year rift with the militant Islamist faction Hamas, prompting Israel to halt the talks that Secretary of State John Kerry started last summer.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel dismissed Mr. Abbas’s statement, telling his cabinet on Sunday morning that “Hamas denies the Holocaust even as it attempts to create an additional Holocaust by destroying the State of Israel.”

“Instead of issuing statements designed to placate global public opinion, Abu Mazen needs to choose between the alliance with Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust, and a true peace with Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said, using Mr. Abbas’s nickname, according to a statement distributed by his press office. “We hope that he will disavow this alliance with Hamas and return to the path of true peace.”
Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Advertisement

In a speech on Saturday to the P.L.O.'s central council, Mr. Abbas said that the new government he would form under the reconciliation agreement with Hamas would adhere to prior P.L.O. agreements, recognize Israel and renounce violence. He said he remained willing to extend the negotiations with Israel if it released a promised group of long-serving Palestinian prisoners and if the next three months were devoted to drawing borders.

And he repeated his vow: “I’ll never recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”

The rabbi who prompted the Holocaust statement, Marc Schneier, is the founder of both the celebrity-studded modern Orthodox Hampton Synagogue and the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a 25-year-old group that fosters relations between Jews and Muslims, blacks and Latinos. Rabbi Schneier said he met with Mr. Abbas at his West Bank headquarters for about 40 minutes last Sunday to enlist his support against European crackdowns on ritual animal slaughter and human circumcision, and for a program that would establish partnerships between Palestinian mosques and Israeli synagogues.

When he suggested that it would be “very significant, very meaningful” for Mr. Abbas to make a statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Rabbi Schneier recalled in an interview, the president agreed “before I could finish my statement.”

“It was very heartfelt, very genuine,” Rabbi Schneier said.

“Of course he expressed his frustration on the negotiations, on the peace process — I’ll leave that up to the political leaders,” he added. “I’m a great believer that Muslim-Jewish reconciliation worldwide transcends the Israeli-Palestinian process. We’re working on the spiritual peace process.”

______

Yad Vashem: Abbas' Holocaust message may herald shift in Palestinian stance

'Acknowledging the crimes of the Holocaust is fundamental to anyone who wants to confront history honestly,' statement reads.

By Barak Ravid for Haaretz

April 28, 2014

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem issued a statement on Sunday saying that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ statement regarding the Holocaust "might signal a change in the way the subject is treated in the Arab world and among the Palestinian public."

“Holocaust denial and revisionism are sadly prevalent in the Arab world, including among Palestinians,” Yad Vashem's statement said. “Thus, the statement that the ‘Holocaust is the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era,’ coming from Abbas, might signal a change, and we expect it will be reflected in PA websites, curricula and discourse. Acknowledging the crimes of the Holocaust is fundamental to anyone who wants to confront history honestly. Yad Vashem encourages anyone who wants to learn about this seminal event to visit our websites and YouTube channels in Arabic and other languages.”

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu belittled the importance of Abbas’ statement, which was made in Arabic and English, terming it “damage control.”

Netanyahu argued that Abbas can’t call the Holocaust history’s most heinous crime and in the same breath embrace Hamas, which denies the Holocaust.

“I think probably what he’s trying to do is damage control,” said Netanyahu. “What President Abbas is trying to do is placate Western public opinion that understands that he delivered a terrible blow to the peace process by embracing these Hamas terrorists. I think he is trying to wiggle his way out of it.”