LATimes: His cause is the Holocaust

[furman]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-holocaust7dec07,1,3094357.story

His cause is the Holocaust
Khaled Mahameed, a Muslim, hopes his museum will give Arabs a fuller understanding of their Jewish neighbors.
By Ken Ellingwood, Times Staff Writer
December 7, 2006

NAZARETH, ISRAEL — Lawyer Khaled Mahameed opened his modest Holocaust museum a year and a half ago, tacking up 80 historical photographs, with captions that he translated into Arabic, at his law office in downtown Nazareth.

Attendance has been sparse.

Mahameed, a 44-year-old Muslim, says the exhibit aims to break down what he describes as a tendency among Arabs to avert their gaze from the Holocaust — at the cost of understanding a defining experience of their Jewish neighbors. Only when Arabs understand the dimensions of the Holocaust is real peace possible, he argues.

"They don't want to know," Mahameed said in English, surrounded by black-and-white photographs of cramped Jewish ghettoes, scowling Nazi soldiers and ghastly stacks of emaciated bodies. "It's not that they don't understand — they understand. They don't want to talk about it."

But the museum, called the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education, is proving controversial on all sides. Mahameed, an Israeli Arab, said his efforts on the Holocaust had left him ostracized by friends and snubbed by his brother.

<snip>

Mahameed has attracted media attention in Israel since he received an invitation to a two-day Holocaust conference this month in Iran, whose president has called for Israel's destruction and has labeled the Nazi genocide a myth that justified Israel's creation.

If he is granted permission to attend by the Israeli government, he said, he will tell participants that the Holocaust was a historical fact and the deaths of 6 million European Jews should not be denied.

"Don't question the numbers. Don't question the events," Mahameed said.

He said he was invited to the conference after writing to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this year, urging him to acknowledge the Holocaust.

The Anti-Defamation League has expressed concern about Mahameed's participation in the conference, "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision," which it characterizes as a platform for people seeking to deny the Holocaust.

<snip>

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. This Guy Sounds O.K. To Me

People are just too thick headed all over the world. Plenty of Americans fall into that category, I know...I work with one and have some for clients/family.

So much phony propaganda, and too many quick to fall for whatever storyline their leaders put forth. This is why it's such a challenge for people to coexist, and may eventually lead to downfall of the human race, if we're not careful.

[cali]

2. I read the entire piece

He sounds like a wise and beautiful soul.

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. reading the full article is very important

because Khaled Mahameed is attempting to educated both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians about each other. Sadly he gets objections from both sides:

link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-holocaust7dec07,1,3094357.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[oberliner]

3. Story on this from almost a year ago from the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4655242.stm

Khaled Mahameed admits his museum, in Nazareth in northern Israel, is small. But he believes it is unique.

According to Mr Mahameed, it is the first and only Arab run centre for promoting the study of the Holocaust.

The museum contains a collection of just 60 photographs depicting the genocide with Arabic captions explaining the scenes. The pictures were purchased from Yad Vashem - the Israeli national Holocaust memorial.

Mr Mahameed firmly believes that it is only by understanding the truth about how the state of Israel was created that Arabs can fully understand Jews and ultimately resolve the conflict between them.