A Palestinian school in Hebron funded by the Belgium government, which under pressure changed its name formerly dedicated to a Palestinian terrorist, still kept its logo which eradicates Israel from the map, Shiri Moshe reported in The Algemeiner on Thursday. The newest iteration shows a Palestinian flag overlaying all of Israel.
Palestinian officials last month changed the name of the school, after the Belgium government announced that it had raised the issue with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and pledged “not allow itself to be associated with the names of terrorists in any way.” In addition, Belgium cancelled two projects related to the construction of Palestinian schools.
Belgium’s intervention, however, was undermined by the fact that Palestinian officials simultaneously named two other schools after the Palestinian terrorist. The name of the school – The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Elementary Mixed School – was transferred by the PA Education Ministry to the Beit Awwa Elementary School for Girls.
The official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida also reported that the PA was “building a new school named after Dalal, which includes a kindergarten.” The Palestinian namesake of the institutions helped massacre 38 people, including 13 children, near Tel Aviv in 1978.
Efforts to change the name of the Belgium-sponsored school were rebuked in the past. An October post published by the school’s Facebook page read, “The name of Dalal is engraved in our hearts and will remain engraved in our minds.” The school also expressed the “sadness” of “the faculty and students” over “the confiscation and robbery of the right and the will of the Palestinian people to name its institutions.”
“It is possible to change the name in the official record…but it is very difficult to change what is in the heart and conscience… and it is very difficult to submit to this intellectual occupation,” the institution added on social media.
The school confirmed on Wednesday that, although it had been renamed, a decision was made to transfer the name to other PA-operated schools, which are not funded by international donors. The Belgian Foreign Ministry did not immediately provide a comment when contacted by The Algemeiner.
Last year, Denmark suspended payments to certain Palestinian groups after the PA named a women’s center after Mughrabi. The United Nation termed the choice of Dalal Mughrabi as a name for a women’s center as”offensive.”
[Photo: PMWfrench / YouTube ]