 |
| Salah Abdel-Shafi, född i Gaza och palestinsk ambassadör i Tyskland. |
"How does it feel to be a Palestinian ambassador in Germany, with all the sensitivity surrounding the Holocaust and the special treatment of Israel and Jews?" I asked. Abdel-Shafi's response surprised me and my colleagues. On the one hand it was very eloquent, and on the other hand it was extremely honest.
The Holocaust is the worst crime in the history of human kind," he answered. "We must teach generation upon generation about the Holocaust as a terrible event that must never repeat itself. The Holocaust is a human tragedy. The Jews were the major victim of the Holocaust, but the Gypsies, homosexuals and Communists were also victims."
Abdel-Shafi said that he himself visited the Sachsenhausen and
Buchenwald concentration camps, although he was never invited to one of
the many ceremonies that are held yearly in Germany to commemorate the
Holocaust. "If they would invite me, I would attend," he says. "By the
way, these are the instructions of President Abbas to Palestinian
diplomats. The Palestinian ambassador in Poland was in Auschwitz along
with the Israeli ambassador."
