World Jewish News

Belgium 'to put on hold any projects related to the construction or equipment of Palestinian schools' following renami

The Belgian government has stopped its financial aid for the construction of a Palestinian school after learning that it was renamed after a notorious Palestinian terrorist.

The Beit Awaa Elementary Girls School, located in southern West Bank’s Hebron region, was built with Belgian government funds and through the Belgian Development Agency in 2012-2013. The plaque mentiong Belgium's funding on the wall of the Dalal Mughrabi School reads in English and Arabic: "Through a fund from the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium and through the Belgian Development Agency BTC constructed and furnished(?), Beit Awaa Basic Girls School."

The school was later renamed the Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education. Dalal Mughrabi took part in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, in which she and several other Palestinian terrorists landed on a beach near Tel Aviv, hijacked a bus on Israel’s coastal road and killed 38 civilians, 13 of them children, and wounded over 70.

“When the school building was handed over to the local community in 2013 it was called ‘Beit Awwa Basic Girls School,’ subsequently the name was changed to ‘Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School,’” Didier Vanderhasselt, a spokesperson for the Belgian foreign ministry told the Algemeiner.

“The Belgian government was unaware of the name change,”explained Didier Verhasselt, a Belgian foreign ministry spokesman. Belgium has raised this issue with the Palestinian Authority and is awaiting a formal response.

“In the meantime Belgium will put on hold any projects related to the construction or equipment of Palestinian schools,” the spokesperson said.

‘’Belgium unequivocally condemns the glorification of terrorist attacks and will not allow itself to be associated with the names of terrorists in any way,” he said.

According to Palestnian Media Watch (PMW), which had sent the information about the school renaming to ther Belgian embassy, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education has named at least 31 schools after terrorists and an additional 3 schools after Nazi collaborators.

PMW reported on the danger of naming schools after terrorists as exemplified with one of the schools named after Dalal Mughrabi where children are taught to see the terrorist as a role model. One girl told the Palestinian Authority TV that her "life's ambition is to reach the level of the Martyr fighter Dalal Mughrabi."

EJP