ARABS-ISRAEL - Feb. 2 - Jewish Leaders Decry Syrian Editorial On Holocaust.

The Zionist organisation of America says Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel and other prominent Jews are condemning a recent editorial in the official Syrian newspaper 'Tishreen' that called the Nazi Holocaust a myth. It says Wiesel and 20 other Jewish leaders are signing an advertisement organised by the Zionist group that will appear in newspapers throughout the US "in the days to come". The advertisement will call on Syrian leader Assad to denounce the Jan. 31 editorial, written by 'Tishreen' editor Mohammed Kheir Al Wadi, who said Israel had exaggerated the extent of the Nazi slaughter of the Jews to try to win Western support and contain the country's opponents. Kheir Al Wadi wrote: "I believe Israel and Zionist organisations have 2 aims. The 1st is to receive more money from Germany and other Western establishments. ... The 2nd aim is to benefit from the myth of the Holocaust and accuse anyone opposed to Zionism and its expansionist policies of anti-Semitism". The Zionist Organisation of America says its ad would also call upon the Syrian leader to replace the 'Tishreen' editor, "to take steps to ensure that Syrian government publications in the future refrain from denying or distorting the Holocaust and to surrender for prosecution all Nazi war criminals presently being sheltered in Syria". In Moscow on Feb. 1, US Secretary of State Albright dismissed the editorial as ridiculous and said it clearly did not help the peace talks between Israel and Syria. (The talks have reached what Albright called a "kind of pause" as the sides argue about what disputes to tackle first.)