Yom HaShoah

From USA Today:

"Abbas calls Holocaust 'most heinous crime'"

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called the Holocaust "the most heinous crime" of modern history and expressed his sympathy for the victims, a rare acknowledgment by an Arab leader of Jewish suffering during the Nazi genocide. Abbas' comments appeared, in part, aimed at reaching out to Israeli public opinion at a time of deep crisis in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. The remarks were published by the Palestinian official news agency WAFA just hours before the start of Israel's annual Holocaust commemoration. The decades-old conflict has been accompanied by mutual mistrust among Israelis and Palestinians about the other side's intentions. Many Israelis fear that the Palestinians aren't truly ready to accept a Jewish presence in the Holy Land, and that widespread ignorance or even denial of the Holocaust among Palestinians is an expression of that attitude.

Denials or attempts to minimize the Holocaust, which saw the systematic killing of 6 million Jews in World War II, are widespread in the Arab world. Many Palestinians fear that if they acknowledge the Holocaust, they will diminish their own claims based on years of suffering, including their uprooting during Israel's 1948 creation and decades under Israeli occupation. Abbas' office said he discussed the Holocaust in a meeting with an American rabbi, Marc Schneier, who visited Abbas' headquarters in Ramallah last week. Abbas told Schneier that "what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust is the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era," WAFA said in a statement in English published Sunday. The wording in an earlier WAFA statement in Arabic was slightly different, with Abbas using the phrase "ugliest crime" instead of "the most heinous crime."

In the English statement, WAFA quoted Abbas as expressing his "sympathy with the families of the victims and many other innocent people who were killed." Abbas said the Holocaust was an expression of the idea of ethnic discrimination and racism, and connected it to the Palestinian suffering of today. Abbas' statement came as the latest U.S. attempt to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal was on the verge of collapse. At the start of negotiations in late July, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had set an end-of-April target date for a peace deal. He later lowered expectations, calling for the outlines of an agreement and, in a last attempt, for a deal on extending the talks.

However, none of Kerry's objectives appear within reach, since no progress has been made. Instead, the two sides have been bogged down in mutual accusations. Last week, Israel suspended negotiations in response to a reconciliation deal between Abbas and his political rival, the Islamic militant Hamas. At the time, Israeli leaders alleged Abbas preferred peace with the militants, who have called for Israel's destruction, to peace with Israel. Hamas has traditionally refrained from acknowledging the Holocaust and in 2009 protested against the subject being taught in United Nations-run schools in Gaza. Hamas and Israel are bitter enemies. Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in militant attacks and Israel routinely targets it in airstrikes and military operations. Speaking Sunday before a Cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu largely dismissed Abbas' statement. "Instead of making declarations intended to pacify world opinion, (Abbas) needs to choose between the agreement with Hamas, a terror group that calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and denies the Holocaust, and between true peace with Israel," Netanyahu said.

^ It would be nice if the Palestinians would stop calling for the destruction of Israel and the Jews. That is the biggest hindrance to the Peace Talks. No country in the world would could make peace with anyone who is out to destroy them and that has been Israel's stance since 1948. Egypt and Jordan were able to overcome their own anti-Israel/anti-Jewish thinking and make peace so I don't see why other Arab/Muslim states and the Palestinians can't do so too. If the Palestinians stopped attacking Israel with bombs, missiles, etc, stopped calling for Israel's destruction and stopped trying to play the sole victims of this conflict then I believe Israel would have to make peace with them. For 60+ years the Palestinians (and other Arabs/Muslims) have used the same strategy that clearly hasn't worked as Israel is stronger than ever. Maybe it's time to stop doing the same old thing that never has worked and never will work and try something new - peace. Today is Yom HaShoah in Israel (Holocaust Remembrance Day) so it doesn't surprise me that Abbas would mention the Holocaust in his speech today. Now he has to back his words with action (nonviolent action.) ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/27/abbas-holocaust-palestinian-nazi/8259109/