Gaza backs Garaudy

Palestinian intellectuals demonstrated in Gaza yesterday in support of French Muslim writer Roger Garaudy, facing trial in France for arguing that the World War two Nazi killings of Jews were no holocaust.

"We condemn the trial of the Muslim writer Roger Garaudy and we ask all believers in human rights and freedom of expression to back him," said Palestinian Telecommunications Minister Imad Fallogi, Al-Wafd daily said.

The protest coincided with a high-profile Arab-Jewish flap over Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's planned visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, which was at first refused, then accepted by the museum.