Palestinian official visits Auschwitz memorial

[July 27, 2012]  WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is visiting memorial at the German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz to pay respect to some 1.5 million camp victims, mostly Jews.

Ziad al-Bandak, who advises Abbas on Christian affairs, is visiting 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.

[Associated Press]

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