Israeli group invites Arafat to Holocaust museum after US snub

An Israeli movement officially invited Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat on Saturday to visit a Holocaust museum at Kibbutz Yad Mordekhay in Israel after the Holocaust Museum in Washington cancelled his visit, Israel radio reported.

The Kibbutz Artzi Movement (KAM) issued the invitation after the directors of the Washington museum refused to hold an official reception for Arafat.

KAM Secretary Avshalom Vilan said it was essential to explain the Holocaust to the Palestinians if the two sides wanted to achieve reconciliation, the radio reported.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.