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Last update - 21:56 30/08/2009
Hamas accuses UN of plan to teach Gaza kids Holocaust 'lies'
By Reuters
Tags: israel news, hamas, UN 

Hamas condemned the United Nations on Sunday over the international body's apparent plan to teach Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip about the Holocaust.

A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which educates some 200,000 refugee children in Gaza, said the Holocaust was not on its current curriculum. He would not comment on Hamas' statement that it was about to change.

Branding the Nazi genocide of the Jews "a lie invented by the Zionists," the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip wrote in an open letter to a senior UN official that he should withdraw plans for a new history book in UN schools.
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Palestinians resent the way world powers reacted to the Holocaust by supporting the establishment of Israel in 1948, a move that left half the Arab population of then British-ruled Palestine as refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and abroad.

Hamas said it believed UNRWA was about to start using a text for 13-year-olds that included a chapter on the Holocaust.

In an open letter to local UNRWA chief John Ging, the movement's Popular Committees for Refugees said: "We refuse to let our children study a lie invented by the Zionists."

UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said: "There is no mention of the Holocaust in the current syllabus." Asked if UNRWA planned to change that, he declined to comment.

In the West Bank, run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, teachers said there was no official guidance on teaching about the Holocaust.

Israelis are angered by denial of the Holocaust among some in the Middle East, notably lately by leaders in Iran, who provide support for Hamas. Abbas, who has engaged in negotiation with Israel, has had to distance himself from his own 1980s doctoral thesis, which cast doubt on the scale of the Holocaust.

Hamas' official spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, said he did not want to discuss the history of the Holocaust but said, "Regardless of the controversy, we oppose forcing the issue of the so-called Holocaust onto the syllabus, because it aims to reinforce acceptance of the occupation of Palestinian land."

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      1.   Taboo subjects 20:13  |  David 30/08/09
      2.   not teaching naqba not Holocaust denial 20:32  |  Paul Freedman 30/08/09
      3.   Reuters lies about Israel`s re-establishment 20:34  |  Simon Davis 30/08/09
      4.   Holocaust 20:50  |  al 30/08/09
      5.   Reuters and headline 20:57  |  Christopher 30/08/09
      6.   Dead End 21:03  |  Macabee 30/08/09
      7.   Reuters is wildly innacurate on this 21:07  |  bbl 30/08/09
      8.   There is no possible chance for any real peace 21:37  |  bernard ross 30/08/09
      9.   ITS OK TO TEACH 21:39  |  TOBIA 30/08/09
      10.   Its just one of many 21:40  |  RfaelMoshe 30/08/09
      11.   Denying the Holocaust vs. 9-11 21:43  |  Miss America 30/08/09
      12.   And if this isn`t anti semitism...... 21:45  |  richelle 30/08/09
      13.   Facts 21:46  |  David LG 30/08/09
      14.   Simon Davis #5 `Reuters` 21:47  |  Colin Wright 30/08/09
      15.   Palestinian Education is used 21:52  |  sean 30/08/09
      16.   Reuters 21:58  |  Oscar Valladares 30/08/09
      17.   # 14 22:02  |  Simon Davis 30/08/09
      18.   As bad as denying the Nakba 22:29  |  Adam 30/08/09
      19.   We are not against Jews, just against the Holocaust 22:34  |  Farfur 30/08/09
      20.   To Miss America 22:48  |  David LG 30/08/09
      21.   How awful! 23:26  |  Rory 30/08/09
      22.   Why can`t the Israelis 23:47  |  Joe 30/08/09
      23.   @richelle (12) 23:50  |  Patrick 30/08/09
      24.   No miss america I dont get it . both events have been documented 00:02  |  Steve -nyc 31/08/09
      25.   @Colin - new historians 00:02  |  Patrick 31/08/09
      26.   trying to force them to learn is a waste of time 00:53  |  zionist forever 31/08/09
      27.   Simon Davis 01:16  |  Froy 31/08/09
      28.   True victims - 1 01:33  |  Colin 31/08/09
      29.   15 01:33  |  zionist forever 31/08/09
      30.   And many here still try to defend these neanderthals ... 01:56  |  GZLives 31/08/09
      31.   It`s not what hamas says but what israeli leaders don`t do! 01:58  |  retreat = surrender 31/08/09
      32.   Comparison 03:45  |  Edan 31/08/09
      33.   procrustrean pals 04:15  |  ky 31/08/09
      34.   Froy 18 04:19  |  ChanahS 31/08/09
      35.   Israel should admit 05:45  |  Patrick 31/08/09
      36.   Miss America 06:16  |  Connie 31/08/09
      37.   JEWISH POLICE,TAKE OVER GAZA, WIPE OUT TERROR, TEACH KIDS NOAHISM 07:04  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 31/08/09
      38.   And The "Lies" Shall Set You Free 07:27  |  Lavi 31/08/09
      39.   It should also teach about.... 07:53  |  Galut 31/08/09
      40.   Ditto #25 British Empire Model 08:30  |  Yosemite 31/08/09
      41.   And The "Lies" Shall Set You Free 08:44  |  Lavi 31/08/09
      42.   In other words 11:09  |  Lola 31/08/09
      43.   DAVID you recall wrong,consequences of failed Arab genocide 11:55  |  PETER SM 31/08/09
      44.   This whole issue is rubbish 12:11  |  H 31/08/09
      45.   For Hamas Truth is a Lie... 12:15  |  Michael J 31/08/09
      46.   # 18 Froy 12:35  |  Simon Davis 31/08/09
      47.   miss america, please me get it 12:44  |  gideon 31/08/09
      48.   Miss America 12:48  |  Jasper 31/08/09
      49.   if we were like them 13:12  |  shimi 31/08/09
      50.   Israel trying to ban discussion of Naqba 13:13  |  Labhras 31/08/09
      51.   Froy #18 you are wrong 13:36  |  Mickey 31/08/09
      52.   Comparisons 14:03  |  Sarah 31/08/09
      53.   Blaming Hamas for UN anti-semitism 14:35  |  Gene 31/08/09
      54.   What`s wrong with holocaust denial? 15:15  |  W 31/08/09
      55.   #41 16:05  |  Mickey 31/08/09
      56.   #34 16:11  |  Leeguy 31/08/09
      57.   #41 16:18  |  Azzi 31/08/09
      58.   #52 Leeguy 17:35  |  Azzi 31/08/09
      59.   It is amazing how there are a lot of naqba deniers 18:44  |  Butros Dahu 31/08/09
      60.   Leeguy #56 19:55  |  Jew 31/08/09
      61.   To Butros Dahu - Let`s Examine These Israeli Historians 20:06  |  Eli 31/08/09
      62.   What`s wrong with holocaust denial? 20:29  |  Mark Lincoln 31/08/09
      63.   Uh Patrick, not quite 20:56  |  RfaelMoshe 31/08/09
      64.   The importance of property over other peoples lives 21:16  |  RfaelMoshe 31/08/09
      65.   Teaching the Glory of Occupation 21:22  |  FOX 31/08/09
      66.   to Labhras 22:07  |  GA 31/08/09
      67.   HAMAS HOLOCAUST DENIAL 22:09  |  jeanette friedman 31/08/09
      68.   Maori boy i just finished Richard J Evans, a British Historian 22:36  |  james 31/08/09
      69.   Religion of `Peace and Tolerance" 22:59  |  Gee 31/08/09
      70.   Remind us all again - who started the war in 1947? 23:02  |  GZLives 31/08/09
      71.   RE: Let`s Examine These Israeli Historians 23:04  |  Butros Dahu 31/08/09
      72.   Labhras 50 23:09  |  ChanahS 31/08/09
      73.   un 23:10  |  oz 31/08/09
      74.   Demons 23:15  |  77777 31/08/09
      75.   Remind us all again - who started the war in 1947? 01:05  |  Mark Lincoln 01/09/09
      76.   double denial 08:00  |  peter rouget 01/09/09
      77.   #69 Butros 14:18  |  Der Zweifler 01/09/09
      78.   Maori Boy`s limited intel 10:03  |  FOX 03/09/09
      79.   "Holocaust" 11:32  |  Michael(Uk) 06/10/09
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