Wiesenthal Centre Condolences on Desecration of French Muslim Cemetery - Offers Mosque of Paris Joint Project on Sanctity of Human Life

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE
64 avenue Marceau - 75008 Paris - Tel. +33147237637 - Fax: +33147208401
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Wiesenthal Centre Condolences on Desecration of French Muslim Cemetery - Offers Mosque of Paris Joint Project onSanctity of Human Life

Paris, 20 April 2007

In a letter to the Rector of the Mosque of Paris, Dr Dalil Boubakeur, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director forInternational Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed the Centre's sympathy to the families of those whose tombs were desecrated in the Muslim cemetery of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire near Arrasin the north of France.

Samuels noted that "Jewish cemeteries are often the target of such hate crimes", adding, "Indeed, those who assault thedead - whether Jewish or Muslim - are part of a culture of death that has victimized both of our communities."

Samuels stressed, "At such moments Jews and Muslims must stand together, for any divisions between us will only servethe forces of hate which target us both."

The letter presented this situation as "an opportunity for the Centre Simon Wiesenthal - France to develop a jointproject with the Mosque of Paris on the sanctity of human life as the categorical imperative for our two faiths."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58