Holocaust: Memorial, Denial and Resistance (meanwhile in the blogosphere…)
Khaled Mahameed opened a modest Holocaust museum, Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education, in his office in the predominantly Arab town of Nazareth 18 months ago. It has some 80 photographs with (translated) Arab captions but not much visitors though.
It seems that the museum is controversial both on Jewish side as on Arab side:
Mr Mahameed said his efforts had left him ostracised by friends and snubbed by his own brother. School officials in Nazareth have turned down his offers to host pupils. At the same time, Jewish leaders who at first praised his plans say the exhibit may do more harm than good by including a Palestinian flag and images of Arab refugees who fled or were expelled from their homes as war broke out when Israel was founded in 1948.
Since a group’s involvement in atrocities is never a black and white picture but, as in the Dutch case with the holocaust, more a matter of many grey areas with a few real heros and a few real villains, it might be better as a start to include also stories and evidence about Arabs who helped Jews during those terrible years.
Meanwhile Muslim bloggers stand up against Iran’s holocaust conference: Myrtus – Calling on all Righteous Muslims: here and here (much attention for this initiative on many other sites). Apart from that several others have also taken a stand against the conference (or elements of it):
Eteraz (about Iranian Khatami taking an entirely different postition then the president)
