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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Norway demands PA return funds for women’s center named after terrorist | |
| 2017-05-28 | |
Norway’s foreign minister on Friday condemned the Paleostinian Authority for naming a women’s center in the West Bank, funded in part by the Scandinavian country, after a female terrorist. "The glorification of terrorist attacks is completely unacceptable, and I deplore this decision in the strongest possible terms. Norway will not allow itself to be associated with institutions that take the names of turbans in this way. We will not accept the use of Norwegian aid funding for such purposes," Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende said in a statement. Brende’s comments were made in reference to a new women’s center opened earlier this month in the West Bank town of Burqa. The center was named after Dalal Mughrabi, who took part in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre. Mughrabi and several other Fatah turbans landed on a beach near Tel Aviv, hijacked a bus on Israel’s Coastal Road and killed 38 civilians, 13 of them children, and maimed over 70. Brende said that Norway had been unaware of the decision to name the center after Mughrabi. He demanded that the country’s name be removed from the center and that the funds it gave for construction be returned. "We have asked for the logo of the Norwegian representation office to be removed from the building immediately, and for the funding that has been allocated to the center to be repaid," he said. He also said that Norway would no longer participate in similar projects until the country receives assurances "that nothing of this nature happens again." "We will not enter into any new agreements with either the Paleostinian Election Commission or UN Women in Paleostinian areas until satisfactory procedures are in place to ensure that nothing of this nature happens again," he said. Israel commended Oslo’s action, with Foreign Ministry front man Emmanuel Nahshon saying "Norway took the right step -- a tough line against memorializing turbans is an integral part of the international effort to eliminate terror. We recommend that the international community take thorough steps to check where the money it invests in the PA is going." Norway’s rebuke of the PA came after the Norwegian branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem brought the matter to the country’s attention on Friday, the organization said in a statement, while thanking Brende for his "swift and clear" response. "The Paleostinian Authority undermines the quest for peace in this region, and violates all standards of human decency, when it decides to glorify and perpetuate the despicable legacies of turbans like Dalal Mughrabi," ICEJ President Jurgen Buhler said. "The Norwegian government acted properly when it condemned this immoral action by the Paleostinian Authority." Paleostinian Media Watch, which first brought attention to the naming of the women’s center, quoted a local village leader saying that "the center will focus especially on the history of the struggle of Martyr Dalal Mughrabi and on presenting it to the youth groups, and...constitutes the beginning of the launch of enrichment activities regarding the history of the Paleostinian struggle. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 I hope Norway is starting to figure this out. |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-05-28 12:32 |
| #2 yea, the funds already went into somebody's pocket. If the funds were actually used in actual construction, I'll be very surprised! |
| Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance 2017-05-28 05:02 |
| #1 There must be a catch. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-05-28 02:51 |