PARIS, January 24 (IslamOnline.net) – While condemning the holocaust, French Muslim activists said its commemoration should not eclipse crimes against humanity committed in such areas as the occupied Palestinian territories, Bosnia and Chechnya.

“A crime is a crime irrespective of the perpetrator. We condemn in principle the crimes committed during World War II which left millions of Jewish and other victims,” Lhaj Thami Breze, the president of the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), told IslamOnline.net Monday, January 24.

The 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz will be observed this year as Holocaust Memorial Day with world leaders attending ceremonies in Poland on January 27.

Some historians say that between 1 million and 1.5 million prisoners, most of them Jews, were killed in Auschwitz alone, dying in gas chambers or of starvation and disease.

“We should also have vivid memories of the ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Bosnia, as well as the colonization of Africa,” Breze said.

“All people are born free and equal and should be given even-handed treatment irrespective of their race.”

Haitham Manna, the spokesman for the Arab Human Rights Commission, echoed similar sentiments.

“We agree with others in their position on Auschwitz and other crimes committed against innocent people.

“But we must as well denounce crimes against humanity that claimed innocent lives in Rwanda, Chechnya, Bosnia and other countries.”

Breze, however, said he decided not to attend ceremonies attended by foreign parties and “politically exploited,” referring to the gains made by Israel from the holocaust.

“Our solidarity goes only for pure French occasions, which are not attended by Israelis. We believe that the Israeli government has blood on its hands just like the Nazis.”

Holocaust commemoration kicked off last week in Paris with a ceremony organized by Paris municipality and attended by a host of politicians and religious leaders, including Dalil Boubakeur, the head of the French Council for Muslim Faith (CFCM).

Breze’s position was similar to that of Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Sacranie decided not to attend a similar ceremony on Thursday because it would disregard the human rights abuses and genocide in Palestine.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, holocaust refers to “systematic state-sponsored killing of Jewish men, women, and children and others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II.”

The commonly used figure for the number of Jewish victims is six million.

However, the figure was questioned by some historians and intellectuals, chiefly French Muslim author Roger Garaudy.