Forgotten victims of mistreatment

The 41-nation conference in London on Nazi gold reminds the world again of the victims of World War II. When the international community speaks of the victims of Nazism, only the trauma of European Jews springs to mind, thus obscuring the fact that other peoples were also victimized by the Nazis.

In order for the ongoing London meeting to serve as a model for remembering victims of genocides and other crimes against humanity, the prime movers behind the conference should widen the scope so that non-Jews can also benefit from international concern and benevolence.

Should then some of the money to be raised in London be earmarked for the Palestinians who have been denied all their property and rights for over five decades? Or should a similar conference be convened to compensate all other peoples regardless of their religion, race, color or nationality.

While no people, with a few exceptions, can claim they lost as much as the European Jews did in World War II, other nations which have been dispossessed and made to suffer great hardships must not be forgotten in the scramble to compensate victims of the Holocaust.

-- The Jordan Times, Amman