2024-11-08
26 分钟Twenty years ago, one man took it into his hands to educate Arab-Israelis about the Holocaust and its ongoing psychological effects. Khaled Kasab Mahameed, a lawyer from Nazareth, opened what is believed to be the first ever Arab-led Holocaust museum. His aim: to open the eyes of his fellow Arabs to the trauma of the Holocaust while at the same time reminding Jewish Israelis of the suffering of his own Palestinian people. Mike Wooldridge hears Khaled’s story and discovers why, despite his enormous idealism, he soon found himself the target of criticism from both sides of the conflict.
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The Holocaust was one of the defining events of the 20th century, at least in the West.
Images of millions of Jews systematically murdered in Nazi extermination camps stand as a symbol of pure evil in Western consciousness.
The Holocaust has contributed to defining the sense of identity and political views of generations in Israel and elsewhere.
And it's carried in its wake two key issues that still blight relations between Israelis and Arabs today.
The charge that Arabs deny or downplay the Holocaust and the accusation that Israelis fail to acknowledge the suffering experienced by Palestinians who became refugees when Israel declared independence.
They are coming to our home and they arrest him at the middle of the night.
And he used to say, we are not the Germans, that they are behaving to us like this.
Many Israelis are deeply traumatized by the Holocaust still.
We just view it as this giant ocean of unresolved suffering and it contributes to the situations today.
I'm Mike Wooldridge and this is the documentary from the BBC World Service.
In this edition of Heart and Soul, I'll be hearing the story of One man who, 20 years ago, took it into his own hands to challenge both of those issues by educating his fellow Arabs about the Holocaust and by reminding Jewish Israelis of the suffering of his own Palestinian people.
I bought that picture, put it in the exhibition, and I declared, this is a Holocaust museum.
They were shocked.
What an Arab Palestinian make a Holocaust museum.
In this episode of the Right Thing, which explores acute dilemmas faced by individuals, I'll be asking Khaled Kasab Mohammed why he persisted with his museum project despite opposition from all sides.
And I'll be finding out how his own Muslim background underpinned his actions, which, from the perspective of today's tensions, may seem more relevant than ever.