Arabs and Jews speak about Auschwitz

During the last months our Association studied the subject of the „Holocaust from the Arab point of view“. Our first seminar on the subject took place on 30th of October 2002, (a report on it you will find on the website under 2002
l) even before we heard about the new Israeli-Arab initiative to visit Auschwitz. After we heard about it, we invited the initiators  to a seminar in Jerusalem together with the Konrad Adenauer foundation. The report on it you will find here. The Association plans to continue the study of the subject on the return of the group from Auschwitz by way of additional seminars and meetings. 

The report:
Arabs and Jews speak about Auschwitz

In spite of the tense situation in Israel and the great concern of a possible attack by Saddam Hussein on Israel following the American-Brittish invasion of Irak, about 250 people responded on Thursday evening, the 20th of March, the first day of the War, to the invitation of the Israel Interfaith Association and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and attended at the Konrad Adenauer Congress Center in Jerusalem a seminar on the subject: „From Commemoration to Peace - an Arab Iniative - towards the joint visit of Jews and Arabs to Auschwitz“. The Archimandrite Emile Shoufani, the schoolmaster of St Joseph College in Nazareth and the initiator of the visit, the Social Psychologist Ruth Bar Shalev and the chairman of the International Auschwitz Committee, Noach Flug, addressed the meeting.
The Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Israel, Dr. Johannes Gerster, welcomed   the Arab initiative and promised the project financial support. The moderator of the evening, David Witzthum from the Israel Television, emphasized the innovative character of this initiative. So far Auschwitz was considered a place of separation between Jews and Christians which demonstrated the great gap between  them, the Arab initiative was meant to make it into a starting point for an encounter of Jews and Arabs, a bridge of peace between the two nations.
Archimandrite Shoufani explained  what the symbol of Auschwitz meant for him. Auschwitz was the place of death. In order to reach a life together between the two people, the Israelis and the Palestinians, it is necessary to pass in this place of death. This passage will open the way for the bridging  the conflict, the gap between them. For Jews also it will be possible to accept the Palestinian suffering when they will share with them the suffering of Auschwitz. He mentioned, that his school in Nazareth, the St. Joseph College, has an exchange program for 13 years with the Jewish High School adjacent to the Hebrew University. During these many years of cooperation everything was discussed by the parents and pupils, politics, religion, human relations of Jews and Arabs, but not one word was said about Auschwitz and its significance.
Since October 2000, since the beginning of the El Aksa Intifada, in which 13 Arabs from Nazareth and surroundings lost their lives, the mutual visits of Arab pupils in Jerusalem , their reception in Jewish houses and of Jewish pupils in Nazareth and their stay there overnight  at their Arab friends stopped. The fear of the parents from both sides was too great. Now after the teachers of the Jewish school told the parents about the initiative, Jewish pupils again came  for the first time to Nazareth and spent the night there, and instead of the normal number of twenty, thirty pupils a hundred came.
Ruth Bar Shalev, who is responsible for the Jewish participants of the trip, spoke about the necessary change, which has to happen also among the Jewish participants in order to achieve peace. Noah Flug, the last speaker, welcomed the Arab initiative wholeheartedly on behalf of the survivors. The most important lesson of Auschwitz is, that the human honour should be respected, unspoiled. That is also important for the present, here in Israel, for the life together of Jews and Arabs. The Israeli Arabs can be a bridge to the Arab world, a new beginning in the relations between all Jews and Arabs.
The travel list of 150 Jews and 150 Arabs is full. Most Arabs are Moslems, as is the population of Israel. There is a long waiting list. 150 Jews, Christians and Moslems from France will arrive in Auschwitz from Paris. The interest of the media in this trip, which will take place between the 25th of May and the 29th, is very great. 
In the discussion that followed the introductory lectures the hope was expressed that the peace initiative will overcome all the difficulties of the times and the dangers, especially the war with Irak and will cause a real breakthrough to peace in the area.
 
 
 
 

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