http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=90123&d=17&m=12&y=2006&pix=opinion.jpg&category=Opinion
Sunday, 17, December, 2006 (27, Dhul Qa`dah, 1427)
The Nauseating Holocaust Conference
Sir Cyril Townsend, Arab News
There are certain things in life that should never happen -
but they do! In this category I put the nauseating conference that Iran has
just staged, for two days in a northern superb of its capital, on the Holocaust.
The world's historians agree, apart from a tiny minority that
includes some with a political agenda, that 6 million Jews, and other
disfavored groups such as Poles and gypsies, were murdered by the Nazi regime
in Germany during the Second World War.
In Europe, in America and in Israel there are museums that go
into this mass murder in very great detail. Individuals who so died have had
their names and particulars carefully recorded. Individuals who survived the
concentration camps have been interviewed at length. Countless books have been
written, films made and television documentaries shown. What made this mass
killing so repellent was that industrial and scientific methods were employed
by the Nazis to achieve their gruesome strategic aims. Rounding up and killing
such a number of fellow humans is not an easy task, and bodies and belongings
have to be disposed of. To deny the Holocaust ever took place is like telling
the Japanese that Hiroshima was not the first target of the atomic bomb on Aug.
6, 1945.
I don't think we really know why President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad wanted to stage such a despicable event, although numerous reasons
have been stated officially. It was an affront to the suffering of mankind. It
received mass condemnation from continent to continent.
My suspicion is that the president is anxious to rally
further popular support for Iran's nuclear policies as the United Nations
debates sanctions on his country. He is also refusing to have any serious
discussions with America over the plight of the Iraqis , which may attract
criticism in Iran. Many professional Iranians are alarmed at the isolation of
their country, which damages investment in the economy.
It was not unknown for his predecessors to refer in their
Friday speeches to the destruction of Israel. He has taken this theme further.
He has described Israel as a "tumor" that he thought should be "wiped off the
map" or somehow moved to Alaska or Europe. Inevitably such wild remarks are
seen in the context of the possibility of Iran having nuclear tips for its
numerous long-range missiles. In December 2005 he said: "They have fabricated a
legend under the name 'Massacre of the Jews,' and they hold it higher than God
himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves." A few weeks earlier he
had told an audience: "Anyone who signs a treaty which recognizes the entity of
Israel means he has signed the surrender of the Muslim world."
I find the words of Mohammad Khatami, his reformist
predecessor who recently received an honorary degree at St. Andrews University
in Scotland, much more responsible. He said this year: "We should speak out if
even a single Jew is killed." He believed the Holocaust should be recognized:
"even if this historic reality has been misused and there is enormous pressure
on the Palestinian people."
Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, tried a
different tack when he welcomed participants to the conference: "The aim of
this conference is not to deny or confirm the Holocaust. Its main aim is to
create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely in
Europe about the Holocaust." However the Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammadi
declared the conference would address issues such as: "Whether the gas chambers
were actually used by the Nazis." While I think it is a big mistake to have
laws against Holocaust denial, such as in Austria, Belgium and France, most
member states of the European Union, including the United Kingdom, do not.
It was interesting that Khaled Kasab Mahameed, who is an
outspoken Palestinian lawyer living in Israel, was not given a visa to attend,
although he had been invited to speak. He has established the Arab Institute
for Holocaust Research and Education in Nazareth, the Arab world's first such
museum. He was hoping to challenge Holocaust deniers during the conference. He
is convinced that the questioning of "such huge, monstrous horror" harmed the
Palestinian cause, and that the "study, analysis and acknowledgement" of the
Holocaust by Arabs is important for a durable peace between the Palestinians
and the Israelis.
It was also interesting that dozens of Iranian students burnt
pictures of President Ahmadinejad and described the conference as "shameful,"
as he gave a speech on Dec. 11 at a university in Tehran. They chanted "death
to the dictator." They complained the conference "has brought to our country
Nazis and racists from around the world" as, indeed, it did.
We should not doubt that many millions of Iranians will have
been furious at the considerable damage done by this grotesque event to the
image of Iran.
