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Last update - 15:54 30/01/2007 Tunisian becomes first Arab nominated as 'righteous gentile' By Associated Press At the height of the Second World War, Khaled Abdelwahhab hid a group of Jews on his farm in a small Tunisian town, saving them from the Nazi troops occupying the north African nation. More than six decades later, Abdelwahhab has become the first Arab nominated for recognition as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial. The honor is bestowed on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi persecution. The nomination of Abdelwahhab, who died in 1997, has reopened a little-known chapter of the Holocaust, one that unfolded in the Arab countries of north Africa. Advertisement Abdelwahhab was nominated by Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a U.S. think tank. Satloff said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, he moved to Morocco to research what happened in Arab lands during the Holocaust in hopes of countering Holocaust denial in the Arab world and tempering some of the sentiments he thought helped pave the way for the attacks. I asked, did any Arabs save Jews in the Holocaust? Satloff said. If they did, these are stories about which Arabs could be proud. It would also entail accepting the context, because it would mean there was something to save Jews from. That search led Satloff to Abdelwahhab, the cosmopolitan son of an aristocratic family who was 32 when German troops arrived in Tunisia in November 1942. The north African nation was home to some 100,000 Jews at the time. According to Yad Vashem, the Germans instituted anti-Semitic policies in Tunisia, imposing fines on Jews, forcing many to wear Star of David badges and confiscating property. More than 5,000 Jews were sent to forced labor camps, where 46 are known to have died. Around 160 Tunisian Jews who happened to be in France were dispatched to European death camps. Most Tunisians, according to the material compiled by Yad Vashem, did not attempt to intervene. Abdelwahhab, an amateur archaeologist and architect with something of a hedonistic bent, served as an interlocutor between the population of the coastal town of Mahdia and the German occupation forces, Satloff said. He was also a country farmer, a sometime Tunisian civil servant and an avid traveler. When he heard one evening that German officers were planning to rape Odette Boukris, a local Jewish woman, he gathered her family and several other Jewish families in Mahdia - a total of around two dozen people - and took them to his farm outside town. He hid them for four months, until the German occupation ended. Khaled is the finest example, though not the only one, of an Arab who saved Jews from persecution during the German occupation, Satloff said. Satloff first heard Abdelwahhab's story several years ago from Anny Boukris, a 71-year-old resident of a Los Angeles suburb. An 11-year-old in 1943, Boukris is Odette Boukris' daughter and was also hidden by Abdelwahhab. Satloff traveled to Mahdia and talked to Boukris' childhood friends, who confirmed the story. Just weeks after Boukris recorded her 83-page testimony, she passed away. Abdelwahhab still has to be approved by the Yad Vashem commission that grants the honor. Since the war, Yad Vashem has conferred the status on 21,700 people, including some 60 Muslims from the Balkans. But no Arab had ever been nominated. The commission will decide based on the strict criteria for recognizing the Righteous Among the Nations. We can't speculate on what the outcome will be, said Estee Yaari, a spokeswoman for Yad Vashem. Tunisia was the only north African country to come under direct German rule. Nearby Morocco and Algeria were governed by the pro-German collaborators of Vichy France. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, a north Africa expert at Tel Aviv University, said that Morocco's king at the time, Mohammed V, intervened to protect Jews in his country. But the story in Tunisia was quite different, because there was a direct occupation by the German army, he said. Bookmark to del.icio.us   UN hushes Human Rights Council observes moment of silence for Gaza 'martyrs.' Hitler's sign Document shows that British spies hired a flamboyant astrologer in World War II.   1.   Another Arab "first" in Israel 15:31  |  Dani Reiss 30/01/07   2.   I`m sure there are many more 15:37  |  Rami 30/01/07   3.   Awesome 16:32  |  Michael Korn 30/01/07   4.   To Rami: many more 16:45  |  Dan 30/01/07   5.   Arabs and Jews were at some time close 16:55  |  Khaled 30/01/07   6.   Indeed 17:43  |  dan 30/01/07   7.   Just one is righteous???? 18:02  |  Joe 30/01/07   8.   Kol Hakavod 18:04  |  Yosemite 30/01/07   9.   Antisemitism 18:25  |  Majid Yekan 30/01/07   10.   Hereos save lives 19:09  |  Gina 30/01/07   11.   Mr Abdelwahab act of courage 20:44  |  Paul Hodara 10/02/08   12.   It`s never too late to express our gratitude 15:08  |  Irit Yerushalmi 05/03/08

Today Online MI: Iran arming Hezbollah with missiles via Turkey Responses: 105 Leviev: Zionism is bankrupt due to 'new American religion' Responses: 62 Moshe Arens: It was too much to hope for that the IDF would invade Gaza Responses: 30 Rosner: Americans have a favorable view of Israel, especially Republicans Responses: 24 Israeli scientists wonder: Could seaweed power the world? Responses: 18 Rosner's Domain Americans have a favorable view of Israel. Democrats, less so Young American Jews are not alienated from Israel Poll: Should Abbas and Olmert continue their talks? Factor: What's wrong with Obama? Rosner's Mailbox: McCain is a trimmer Sharon More Headlines 15:32 Abbas backs off truce demand, says talks to resume 14:09 Cabinet to IDF: Continue operations to halt rocket fire 14:25 Gilad Shalit's French lawyers to Israeli gov't: Let us go to Gaza 13:59 MK Eitam to Arab MKs: One day we will expel you from Israel 03:42 MI: Iran arming Hezbollah with missiles sent via Turkey 10:52 Clinton scores crucial wins in Texas, Ohio; McCain wins GOP nomination 09:01 Israel, Ukraine deal lets Yad Vashem exhibit Holocaust artist's work 14:26 Gov't places 120 fortified bus stops in rocket-plagued Sderot 02:23 IDF officers: We faced fierce but unorganized resistance in Gaza 11:04 Leviev: Zionism is bankrupt because of 'new American religion' 12:30 Ahmadinejad suspends talks with EU after UN resolution against Iran 09:17 What's wrong with Obama? Previous Editions Select Day 04 mar 03 mar 02 mar 29 feb 28 feb 27 feb 26 feb 25 feb 24 feb 22 feb 21 feb 20 feb

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