Haaretz
Iyadd 15, 5766
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -
Palestinian Authority Refugee Minister Atef Adwan and Austrian orthodox
rabbi Moishe Arye Friedman pledged Friday to work to build ties between
Hamas and anti-Zionist Jews.
Adwan, of Hamas, and Friedman told The
Associated Press their meeting in the Swedish capital heralded a "joint
coalition" between their groups.
Adwan also said the two hoped
their meeting would lead to plans for humanitarian aid to flow from
Friedman's congregation in Vienna to the West Bank.
Friedman flew
to Stockholm from Vienna on Thursday to meet Adwan, who has been on a
weeklong visit to Sweden, attending a conference on Palestinian refugees
and meeting Swedish lawmakers.
Friedman said his congregation would
"do everything in practical terms to help the Palestinian people,"
including sending money and food to the West Bank.
"We will support
them in ways that others have failed to do," Friedman said, but declined
to give details.
Friedman is chief rabbi for hundreds of
anti-Zionist orthodox Jews in Vienna but is shunned by Austria's
7,000-member Israelite Religious Community because of views that are
repudiated by most Jews and also, in some cases, embraced by
far-rightists.
Friedman also denies Israel's right to exist and has
said Zionist Jews share the blame for the Holocaust, which he sees as
punishment for straying from God's path.
Hamas - listed as a
terrorist organization by both the United States and European Union - took
power five weeks ago following a surprise election victory. Its government
is financially crippled because of an international boycott, threatening
to leave much of the Palestinian population without aid.
While few
Jews share Friedman's views, Adwan said he hoped the meeting would "send a
message ... that we can in fact live with each other. That [Jews] can
accept the Palestinians as their mates, as their friends and as their
neighbors, and we will accept them as the same."
Israel has harshly
criticized Sweden for granting Adwan a visa, saying it helped legitimize
Hamas.
Friedman also announced plans for a conference of more than
100 Muslim, Jewish and Christian religious leaders in Vienna in June,
during the week that U.S. President George W. Bush visits the Austrian
capital for a U.S.-European Union summit.
Adwan, whose visa allows
him movement in any of the 15 European countries bound by the Schengen
border accord, is traveling to Norway later Friday for meetings with
politicians and Palestinian groups.