Museum’s ‘no’ to Arafat ignites a heated debate

JERUSALEM, Jan. 19 (JTA) — Two Israeli Holocaust memorial sites have extended invitations to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat — after the Washington museum dedicated to those who perished at the hands of the Nazis said it would not receive Arafat in an official capacity. The position taken by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum set off a heated debate in Israel and the United States over whether it was appropriate for the Palestinian leader to visit the site. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the uproar, the administration of the museum in Washington was reportedly reconsidering its position. Arafat had apparently been persuaded by the Clinton administration to add a visit to the museum during his visit to Washington this week. Arafat is scheduled to meet with President Clinton on Thursday, two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to meet with Clinton. But Arafat canceled his visit to the museum after he was told he would not be extended the protocol reserved for world leaders. Dr. Ahmed Tibi, an adviser to Arafat, said the museum’s stand that Arafat could visit as an individual, but not receive the official reception of state leaders was an “insult” based on political considerations. But among Israelis political leaders and officials, opinion was mixed. “Every day there are anti-Semitic remarks by Palestinian officials, anti-Semitic caricatures in the Palestinian press. Is it conceivable in this situation to invite the Palestinian Authority head to a visit at a Holocaust museum?” said Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh, who heads a government forum on anti-Semitism. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, said he doubted Arafat’s motive for visiting the Holocaust museum was to learn about the Holocaust or sympathize with its victims. Instead, he said, it was likely “a ploy to gain support in Western public opinion.” However, some Holocaust survivors said such a visit could have been an opportunity for reconciliation and understanding between the Palestinian and Jewish people. “In my view, this was a missed opportunity,” Labor Knesset member Shevach Weiss, himself a Holocaust survivor, told Israel Radio. “With all of the ambivalence, with all of the understanding, with all of the pain, such a visit could have been a historic event.” Others said that just as Arafat, in the past five years, went from enemy of the Israeli people to peace partner, a visit to a Holocaust museum by the Palestinian leader was part of the same process. “I saw Arafat shake hands with Clinton and Rabin, I saw him shake hands with Netanyahu,” said Noah Flug, head of the umbrella organization for 25 Holocaust survivor groups in Israel. Flug said he would support a visit by Arafat to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. “The doors are open to everyone — even to Arafat — so that he will see what fascism and racism and anti-Semitism brought about. I hope that he and others will also understand what Hitler and the period of Hitler were,” Flug said. Avner Shalev, director of Yad Vashem, said official visits from dignitaries were determined by the Foreign Ministry. However, Shalev said he believed that the U.S. Holocaust museum had made a mistake by becoming embroiled in the question of whether to host Arafat. “To the best of its abilities, an organization which is involved in the documentation of and memorializing the Holocaust should try not to get involved in political matters,” he said. In response to the debate, two Israeli Holocaust centers located on kibbutzim issued invitations to Arafat. There was no word on whether he would accept.