December 15, 2005

State of denial?

Here's a response by Roland Rance to Jonathan Freedland's Guardian article on holocaust denial. This is what the Guardian published:
Holocaust denial is not respectable and in many countries it is even illegal. But denial of the naqba - the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 - is all-too prevalent. As Freedland concludes: "The days of denial must end."
Roland Rance
Jews Against Zionism
And here's what Roland actually wrote:
Dear Editor

It is of course right to criticise Iranian President Ahmadinejad's holocaustdenial (The sickness bequeathed by the west to the Muslim world, Guardian 14 December 2005). The systematic murder by the nazi regime of millions of European Jews, and the attempt to eliminate the Jews from Europe, was a historic crime of immense dimensions, which should not be minimised or ignored. To do so actually plays into the hands of Israel's apologists. As Palestinian-American academic Joseph Massad noted in Al-Ahram last year, "All those in the Arab world who deny the Jewish holocaust are in my opinion Zionists".

Jonathan Freedland, however, ignores Ahmadinejad's corollary: "If we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem? If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it."

The Palestinian people should not be punished for the crimes of European racists. Holocaust denial is not respectable, and in many countries it is even illegal. But denial of the naqba -- the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 -- is all-too prevalent. As Freedland concludes, "the days of denial must end".

Roland Rance
Jews Against Zionism
The editing wasn't censorship as such since other letters make similar points.

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