PARIS, January 24 (IslamOnline.net) � While condemning the
holocaust, French Muslim activists said its commemoration should not
eclipse crimes against humanity committed in such areas as the occupied
Palestinian territories, Bosnia and Chechnya.
�A crime is a crime irrespective of the perpetrator. We
condemn in principle the crimes committed during World War II which left
millions of Jewish and other victims,� Lhaj Thami Breze, the president of
the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), told IslamOnline.net
Monday, January 24.
The 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp
at Auschwitz will be observed this year as Holocaust Memorial Day with
world leaders attending ceremonies in Poland on January 27.
Some historians say that between 1 million and 1.5 million
prisoners, most of them Jews, were killed in Auschwitz alone, dying in gas
chambers or of starvation and disease.
�We should also have vivid memories of the ethnic cleansing
in Palestine and Bosnia, as well as the colonization of Africa,� Breze
said.
�All people are born free and equal and should be given
even-handed treatment irrespective of their race.�
Haitham Manna, the spokesman for the Arab Human Rights
Commission, echoed similar sentiments.
�We agree with others in their position on Auschwitz and
other crimes committed against innocent people.
�But we must as well denounce crimes against humanity that
claimed innocent lives in Rwanda, Chechnya, Bosnia and other
countries.�
Politically Exploited
Breze, however, said he decided not to attend ceremonies
attended by foreign parties and �politically exploited,� referring to the
gains made by Israel from the holocaust.
�Our solidarity goes only for pure French occasions, which
are not attended by Israelis. We believe that the Israeli government has
blood on its hands just like the Nazis.�
Holocaust commemoration kicked off last week in Paris with a
ceremony organized by Paris municipality and attended by a host of
politicians and religious leaders, including Dalil Boubakeur, the head of
the French Council for Muslim Faith (CFCM).
Breze�s position was similar to that of Iqbal Sacranie, the
secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Sacranie decided not to attend a similar ceremony on Thursday
because it would disregard the human rights abuses and genocide in
Palestine.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, holocaust refers to
�systematic state-sponsored killing of Jewish men, women, and children and
others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War
II.�
The commonly used figure for the number of Jewish victims is
six million.
However, the figure was questioned by some historians and
intellectuals, chiefly French Muslim author Roger Garaudy.
A French appeal court in 2003 upheld a six-month prison
sentence of an editor who published works that called into question the
scope of the Holocaust.
