Egypt, S.Arabia step up trade ties through coordination council talks    Egypt reviews progress on $200m World Bank-funded waste management hub    Egypt urges Israel to accept Gaza deal amid intensifying fighting    SCZONE showcases investment opportunities to eight Japanese companies    Egypt, ADIB explore strategic partnership in digital healthcare, investment    SCZONE, Tokyo Metropolitan Government sign MoU on green hydrogen cooperation    Egypt welcomes international efforts for peace in Ukraine    Al-Sisi, Macron reaffirm strategic partnership, coordinate on Gaza crisis    Contact Reports Strong 1H-2025 on Financing, Insurance Gains    Egypt, India's BDR Group in talks to establish biologics, cancer drug facility    AUC graduates first cohort of film industry business certificate    Egyptian pound down vs. US dollar at Monday's close – CBE    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



From Ramallah to Yad Vashem
Published in Daily News Egypt on 17 - 08 - 2010

JERUSALEM: Among the groups who visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem recently was one unusual group: Twenty-seven Palestinian youths from the West Bank who came on their own initiative in order to learn about the Holocaust.
The person behind the initiative is A., a 28-year-old from the Ramallah area.
“I know Israelis,” he said. “I attended several meetings between Israelis and Palestinians, but wanted to know more about the Holocaust. I e-mailed some of my friends and wrote about the idea on Facebook. I was surprised by the response. I got more than 60 positive responses from people I didn't know from Ramallah, Hebron and other places.”
As expected, not everyone liked the idea. “People had a hard time accepting it,” A. said. “Some told me, ‘The holocaust is happening now in Gaza.'”
Nevertheless, A. assembled a group and approached Yad Vashem for a tour and received a positive reply. Ultimately, only 27 people arrived due to technical reasons, but A. is convinced it won't be the last Palestinian group.
The group's members were mostly students in their 20s and 30s. The others are wage earners, some working for the Palestinian Authority. The group even included a former security prisoner who served 12 years in an Israeli prison.
“I believe that when it comes to people, the pain is the same pain,” A. said. “Most Palestinians and Arabs don't even believe there was a Holocaust. Most Palestinians know Israelis as occupiers and nothing beyond that. Israelis don't know Palestinians and their suffering. I hope this visit will help both our peoples to think ahead. We need to build a common future.”
Despite these statements, A. claims he wasn't surprised by the tough images he saw in the museum. “I saw the difficult imagess from Auschwitz, but ‘I'm used to images of violence from our reality here,” he said.
D.is a female resident of Hebron in her early 20s who joined the group in order to learn more about the Holocaust.
“As a Palestinian I feel that many of my rights have been stolen from me — just take for example the restrictions on movement and the road blocks I had to endure on my way here. I lost many friends in the last ten years. But I think that if one wants to achieve peace one has to understand the Israelis and their need for an army and security,” she said.
The members of the group held a tour of the Holocaust history museum, and took part in discussions at the School for Holocaust Studies.
“They came with an enormous baggage of lack of knowledge and prejudices,” their guide Yaakov Yaniv said. “They knew nothing of the Nazi ideology, and they spoke of the Holocaust in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Yaniv talked to the group extensively about the Nazi ideology. He also told them his personal story, as someone who had lost most of his family in the Holocaust and about his wish as a boy to have had the chance to sit on his grandfather's lap and play with his beard. It was important to him to explain to them that this was not just another political conflict. Yaniv concluded that he “didn't know what effect the visit had on the group but that they all left in an extremely pensive mood”.
Zvi Singer writes for the Hebrew daily “Yediot Aharonot”. As a veteran journalist with Yediot, and previously for Maariv, Singer has covered many aspects of Israeli-Palestinian relations including settlements, party politics, education and religion and state. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with the permission of the author and Ynetnews.


Clic here to read the story from its source.