Both sides are guilty of invoking the Holocaust, but the Palestinians do it defensively, the Israelis offensively.
In truth, the Palestinians have been so impacted by the implications of the Holocaust, albeit indirectly, that they have never truly understood its essence or comprehended its evil. Arabs are no strangers to colonial, imperial or ethnic violence, but nothing like the industrial-scale crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany.
Aggrieved and angry, the Palestinians have long believed that it was they who paid the price for the horrors inflicted upon Jews in Europe…
…After all, the early Zionists chose to settle and build a homeland for Jews in Palestine nearly half a century before the Holocaust, knowing all too well that it is the homeland of another people. They wished it cleansed of its non-Jewish inhabitants.
- Marwan BisharaSenior political analyst at Al Jazeera. Published On 18 Aug 202218 Aug 2022
![Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Olaf Schultz on August 16. Abbas accused Israel of committing "50 Holocausts" against the Palestinian people.](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/RTSAGUYI.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)