PA daily op-ed: Holocaust was heinous, but "the racist barbarity of Zionist colonialism is "no less heinous than Hitler's Nazism or Mussolini's Fascism"
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for the official PA daily and advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs
“President Mahmoud Abbas set a precedent for the Palestinian policy on the Holocaust when he called it ‘the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era,’ in answer to a question about Jewish Holocaust Day, during his meeting with Rabbi Marc Schneier on Sunday, April 27 [2014]…
Israeli leaders, especially from the extreme right, such as [Israeli Minister of Economy Naftali] Bennett, [Israeli MP Uri] Ariel, [Israeli MP Moshe] Feiglin and others, will never be reconciled whatever the positive Palestinian position on the Jewish question may be… because they believe that the statements of the Palestinian leaders – and especially those of President Abbas – are a tactical ploy aimed at winning the sympathy of the West and Israel… In addition, they are trying to attribute a hostile position on the Holocaust to Mahmoud Abbas, which is not true at all, as his doctoral dissertation… did not deny the Holocaust, but rather cast doubt on the number of Jewish victims. There is a huge difference between completely denying it and [casting doubt on] the number of victims…
The Zionist Israelis are forgetting that the tragic Palestinian experience – caused by the Nakba (i.e., the catastrophe,’ Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel), which was caused in part by the Jewish Holocaust – has taught the Palestinians to treat the suffering of the nations of the world with a great degree of responsibility…
Nonetheless, the Holocaust cannot be considered the most heinous crime against humanity, because that’s an exaggeration. The most heinous and appalling crimes in [modern] times were the World Wars and the regional wars that claimed tens of millions of lives from among the nations of the world. The Crusades were among the most heinous wars earlier in history. Every religious or ethnic war is a heinous war. The Palestinian Nakba – whose testimony against the racist barbarity of Zionist colonialism, which is supported by the capitalist West, is still evident – is also among the wars and calamities that are no less heinous than Hitler’s Nazism or Mussolini’s Fascism.”
“President Mahmoud Abbas set a precedent for the Palestinian policy on the Holocaust when he called it ‘the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era,’ in answer to a question about Jewish Holocaust Day, during his meeting with Rabbi Marc Schneier on Sunday, April 27 [2014]…
Israeli leaders, especially from the extreme right, such as [Israeli Minister of Economy Naftali] Bennett, [Israeli MP Uri] Ariel, [Israeli MP Moshe] Feiglin and others, will never be reconciled whatever the positive Palestinian position on the Jewish question may be… because they believe that the statements of the Palestinian leaders – and especially those of President Abbas – are a tactical ploy aimed at winning the sympathy of the West and Israel… In addition, they are trying to attribute a hostile position on the Holocaust to Mahmoud Abbas, which is not true at all, as his doctoral dissertation… did not deny the Holocaust, but rather cast doubt on the number of Jewish victims. There is a huge difference between completely denying it and [casting doubt on] the number of victims…
The Zionist Israelis are forgetting that the tragic Palestinian experience – caused by the Nakba (i.e., the catastrophe,’ Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel), which was caused in part by the Jewish Holocaust – has taught the Palestinians to treat the suffering of the nations of the world with a great degree of responsibility…
Nonetheless, the Holocaust cannot be considered the most heinous crime against humanity, because that’s an exaggeration. The most heinous and appalling crimes in [modern] times were the World Wars and the regional wars that claimed tens of millions of lives from among the nations of the world. The Crusades were among the most heinous wars earlier in history. Every religious or ethnic war is a heinous war. The Palestinian Nakba – whose testimony against the racist barbarity of Zionist colonialism, which is supported by the capitalist West, is still evident – is also among the wars and calamities that are no less heinous than Hitler’s Nazism or Mussolini’s Fascism.”