Abbas relied on “secret documents” in his thesis to “incriminate the Zionists of having contact with the Nazis”

Official PA TV program Personal Encounter, interview with Khader Al-Zafiri, a Kuwaiti resident of Holland and friend of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas

Khader Al-Zafiri:(Speaks about studying with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in a joint program at Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, where he served as a go-between for the institute and the Arab students and managed the institute’s contact with Abbas. Al-Zafiri speaks about Abbas’ defense of his doctoral thesis, which claimed that the Zionist movement organized the Holocaust together with the Nazis.)

“Before the defense of the thesis, we [Abbas and I] made an agreement with the Institute of Oriental Studies [of the Soviet Academy of Sciences] regarding the secret documents incriminating the Zionists of having contact with the Nazis. Abbas agreed with the institute that he would put them aside, and not directly include them in the thesis. On the day of the defense [of the thesis], dozens of Russian scholars who were interested in the Palestinian cause were present. One of the questions directed at Abbas was: ‘What are the documents incriminating the Zionists [of contact with the Nazis]? Do you have documents?’ He turned towards me. I gave brother Abbas a large folder and said to him: ‘Go ahead.’ He presented the secret documents that were in it to them, and there was a great demand for them.”

Official PA TV host: “One hundred and sixty pages.”

Khader Al-Zafiri: “Exactly 160 pages. Everyone asked for these pages, and the unanimous decision was to grant brother Abbas a doctoral degree.”