Abbas's change in tactics in campaigning for a new Arab state focuses on Jews in the United States for the first time. Abbas, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the denial of the Holocaust, told Jewish leaders at the June 9 dinner that he sent delegates to Holocaust memorial ceremonies in Russia and Poland.
'I want to tell everyone that these people suffered, and we are suffering. Now we want peace between each other,' Abbas was quoted as saying. He also rejected Holocaust denial, according to Ben Smith of Politico.com. Abbas condemned violence and even recognized the Jewish connection to Israel although he apparently did not specifically refer to the Temple Mount. The PA and the Arab world in general have claimed for the past several years that the Jewish Holy Temples never existed."
