Abbas’s Christian affairs adviser tours Auschwitz

Ziad al-Bandak visits the death camp at invitation of Polish foundation promoting tolerance

The Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp (Ilan Ben Zion/Times of Israel)
The Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp (Ilan Ben Zion/Times of Israel)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited the memorial at the German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Friday to pay respect to some 1.5 million camp victims, mostly Jews.

Ziad al-Bandak, who advises Abbas on Christian affairs, visited prisoner blocs, gas chambers and a crematorium in the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex that the Germans built and operated in southern Poland during their World War II occupation of the country.

Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the camp from 1940-45.

Al-Bandak, a Christian, came on an invitation from a private Polish foundation promoting tolerance.

In 2007, the Palestinian and the Israeli ambassadors to Poland made a joint visit to the memorial.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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