In an article in the Herald Tribune, Clinton Bailey, a
researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, proposes
that some reparations received for Jewish assets expropriated
by the Nazis be transferred to the Palestinians. He claims
that since there are so few Holocaust survivors left, there
is no one to whom to give the billions which the Jewish
organizations will receive from the various banks and
insurance companies, and that the money should be used in
order to compensate the Palestinians for the suffering which
Israel caused them, as if they were indirect victims of the
Holocaust. There is no justice to give the money to the
various world organizations that presume to represent the
Jewish people, such as the World Jewish Congress.
The payment of "Holocaust monies," as he calls the assets, to
the Palestinians will not only contribute to peace but will
also prevent the suffering of Jews in the future, and will
solve the problem of the payment of reparations to the
Palestinian refugees. Bailey argues that compensating the
Palestinians is a good way to use the Holocaust money because
no matter what, Israel eventually will have to pay them.
His suggestion is apparently being raised in light of the
forthcoming elections in Israel. It is known that researchers
of his type negotiated with the PLO and influenced the secret
signing of the Oslo accords under the aegis of former Prime
Minister Shimon Peres and with the agreement of former Prime
Minister Yitzchak Rabin.
