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The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between

Nazism and Zionism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism

and Zionism (Arabic: al-Wajh al-Akhar: al-'Alaqat as-Sirriya
bayna an-Naziya wa's-Sihyuniya[1]) is a book by Mahmoud
Abbas,[2] published in 1984 in Arabic.[2] It is based on his
CandSc thesis,[3] completed in 1982 at Patrice Lumumba
University (now the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia)
under the title The Connection between the Nazis and the
Leaders of the Zionist Movement, and defended at the
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Soviet Academy of
Sciences.
In the book, Abbas argues that the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust
had been exaggerated and that Zionists created "the myth" of
six million murdered Jews, which he called a "fantastic lie".[4]
[5][6] He further claimed that those Jews which were killed by
the Nazis were actually the victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot
aimed to fuel vengeance against Jews and to expand their
mass extermination.[7] The book also discussed topics such as
the Haavara Agreement, in which the Third Reich agreed with
the Jewish Agency to facilitate Jewish emigration from
Germany to Mandate Palestine.[3]

The Other Side: the Secret Relationship

Between Nazism and Zionism

Mahmoud Abbas
Author

Mahmoud Abbas

Original title al-Wajh al-Akhar: al-'Alaqat

as-Sirriya bayna an-Naziya
wa's-Sihyuniya

Portions of The Other Side have been considered as Holocaust

denial by critics,[8] especially the parts disputing the accepted
number of deaths in the Holocaust as well as the accusations
that Zionist agitation was the cause of the Holocaust [9] a
charge that Abbas denies.[10]

Country

Jordan

Language

Arabic

Subject

History

Publisher

Dar Ibn Rushd

Publication
1984
When Abbas was appointed the Palestinian prime minister in
date
2003, he wrote that the "Holocaust was a terrible,
Pages
253
unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime against
humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind" and that he
does not deny it,[11] and said that "When I wrote The Other Side we were at war with Israel. Today I would
not have made such remarks".[12] More recently, in 2013 he reasserted that part of his thesis that "the Zionist
movement had ties with the Nazis".[13][14] In 2014, he stated the Holocaust was the most heinous crime in the
modern era.[15]

Contents
1 Study at Patrice Lumumba University

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2 Content of the thesis and book

3 Political controversy and Abbas' clarifications
4 References

Study at Patrice Lumumba University

Abbas attended at Patrice Lumumba University to prepare and present his doctoral thesis. The institute's director
at the time, Yevgeny Primakov, appointed a Soviet specialist on Palestine, Vladimir Ivanovich Kisilev as Abbas'
dissertation adviser. They communicated with mostly in English and Arabic.[3] In an interview with the
magazine Kommersant 20 years later, Kisilev remembers Abbas as a well-prepared graduate student, who came
to Moscow with an already chosen research topic and a large amount of already prepared material.[3]
The title of Abbas' thesis is The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement or, in
Russian, " . 19331945".[16] In 1984, a book based on Abbas' doctoral
dissertation was published in Arabic by Dar Ibn Rushd publishers in Amman, Jordan under the title al-Wajh
al-akhar : al-`alaqat al-sirriyah bayna al-Naziyah wa-al-Sihyuniyah.

Content of the thesis and book

In the doctoral thesis, Abbas describes the number of Jews murdered in the Nazi Holocaust as agreed upon by
mainstream historians, six millions, as a "fantastic lie".[4][5][6] In the book, he wrote:
It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust
deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in
order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have
debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions fixing the number of Jewish
victims at only a few hundred thousand.[9]
In the book, he wrote:
Following the war, word was spread that six million Jews were amongst the victims and that a war
of extermination was aimed primarily at the Jews . . . The truth is that no one can either confirm or
deny this figure. In other words, it is possible that the number of Jewish victims reached six million,
but at the same time it is possible that the figure is much smaller, below one million.[17]
Abbas quotes historian Raul Hilberg to support his claim that fewer than one million Jews were killed.[17][18]
[19][20] However, Rafael Medoff of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies denied the assertion that
"The historian and author, Raoul Hilberg, thinks that the figure does not exceed 890,000", and said this is
"utterly false". He wrote that "Professor Hilberg, a distinguished historian and author of the classic study The
Destruction of the European Jews, has never said or written any such thing."[9]
Abbas raised doubts regarding the existence of the gas chambers, quoting Robert Faurisson, a known Holocaust
denier, on the nonexistence of gas chambers.[17]

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Additionally, he claimed that the much smaller number of Jews which he admitted that the Nazis did massacre
were actually the victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot:
The Zionist movement led a broad campaign of incitement against the Jews living under Nazi rule
to arouse the government's hatred of them, to fuel vengeance against them and to expand the mass
extermination.[7]
The thesis also discussed topics such as the Haavara Agreement of 1933, in which the Third Reich agreed with
the Jewish Agency to enable Jews to emigrate from Germany directly to Mandate Palestine, which he sees as
evidence of collaboration.[3]
A global survey of Holocaust denial, published by David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in 2004,
describes the book as "denying the Holocaust".[21]

Political controversy and Abbas' clarifications

After Abbas was appointed prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2003, the Israel Defense Forces
removed excerpts from the Abbas book from its website, including quotes questioning the use of gas chambers
and talking of less than one million victims.[7]
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center called for Abbas to clarify his position
on the Holocaust in 1995, but he did not do so at that time.[22] Abbas' reported defence when asked about the
book was telling: "When I wrote The Other Side we were at war with Israel. Today I would not have made
such remarks Today there is peace and what I write from now on must help advance the peace process."[12][23]
In his May 2003 interview with Haaretz, Abbas stated:
I wrote in detail about the Holocaust and said I did not want to discuss numbers. I quoted an
argument between historians in which various numbers of casualties were mentioned. One wrote
there were twelve million victims and another wrote there were 800,000. I have no desire to argue
with the figures. The Holocaust was a terrible, unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime
against humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind. The Holocaust was a terrible thing and
nobody can claim I denied it.[11]
According to the Ma'an News Agency, in an interview in 2013, Abbas defended his doctoral thesis regarding the
relationship between the Zionists and the Nazis and said he "challenges anyone who can deny that the Zionist
movement had ties with the Nazis before World War II."[13]

References
1. al-Wajh al-Akhar: al-'Alaqat as-Sirriya bayna
an-Naziya wa's-Sihyuniya. Publisher: Dar Ibn Rushd,
Amman, Jordan. 1984.
2. National Library of Australia
(http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/493205)
Catalogue detail.

3. (Abbas on the feet of clay)

(http://www.kommersant.ru
/doc.aspx?DocsID=538949), Kommersant-Vlast No.
2(605), 17.01.2005) (Russian)

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4. Morris, Benny. Exposing Abbas

(http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/exposingabbas-5335). The National Interest. May 19, 2011
5. Mass, Warren. "Clinton Meets with Abbas". The New
American. March 4, 2009
6. Latner, Gabriel. "Palestinian Peacemakers". The
American Thinker. September 28, 2010
7. Chris McGreal: Arafat forced to give up most powers
to new PM (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world
/2003/mar/19/usa.israel) The Guardian 19 March
2003.
8. "Profile: Mahmoud Abbas" (http://news.bbc.co.uk
/2/hi/middle_east/1933453.stm). BBC News. 5
November 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
9. A Holocaust-Denier as Prime Minister of "Palestine"?
(http://www.wymaninstitute.org/articles/2003-03denier.php) by Dr. Rafael Medoff (The David S.
Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies)
10. Akiva Eldar, "U.S. told us to ignore Israeli map
reservations", Haaretz, 27 May 2003. [1]
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages
/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=297637&contrassID=2&
subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y)
11. Interview with Mahmoud Abbas
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages
/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=297637&contrassID=2&
subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y)
by Akiva Eldar, Haaretz. May 2003
12. Soft-Spoken but Not Afraid to Voice Opinions
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/international
/middleeast/11ABBA.html), By GREG MYRE, NY
Times, March 11, 2003
13. "Abbas: Israel agreed to let refugees into West Bank
from Syria" (http://maannews.net
/ENG/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=557940). Ma'an News
Agency. 23 January 2013.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Side:_The_Secret_Relationshi...

14. 'Abbas claims Zionists, Nazis linked before WWII'

(http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics
/Article.aspx?id=300397)
15. Palestinian president calls Holocaust 'most heinous
crime' in modern history (http://rt.com/news/155188abbas-holocaust-heinous-crime/). RT
16. , (http://www.lenta.ru/lib/14161080
/full.htm) (lenta.ru) (Russian)
17. Holocaust Denial's Assault on Memory: Precursor to
Twenty-First Century Genocide
(http://www.wiesenthal.com/atf/cf
/%7BDFD2AAC1-2ADE428A-9263-35234229D8D8%7D
/DENIAL_REPORT.PDF), H Brackman, A Breitbart,
RA Cooper - Los Angeles: Simon Wiesenthal Center,
2007, p. 11
18. Meir Litvak; Ester Webman (30 June 2012). From
Empathy to Denial: Arab Responses to the Holocaust
(http://books.google.com/books?id=sZW2RKChTcC&pg=PA174). Columbia University Press.
p. 174. ISBN 978-0-231-70075-7. Retrieved
18 March 2013.
19. Arafat's war: the man and his struggle for Israeli
conquest by Efraim Karsh, 2003, page 98
20. Holocaust denial as an international movement by
Stephen E. Atkins, ABC-CLIO, 2009, page 214
21. Alex Grobman (2004). "Holocaust Denial: A Global
Survey - 2004" (http://www.wymaninstitute.org
/articles/2004-denialreport.php).
22. 1970s1990s: Beginnings of Denial in Middle East
(http://www.adl.org/holocaust/denial%5Fme
/hdme%5Forigins.asp) Anti-Defamation League,
2001.
23. Huggler, Justin (30 April 2003). "Palestinian PM has
friends in Israel, enemies at home"
(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world
/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=3451798). The
New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 November 2011.

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