RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The
Yasser Arafat Museum said Tuesday it had removed artwork depicting the iconic Palestinian
leader that exaggerated his facial features, after accusations they were
insulting to the late president.
اضافة اعلان
The 35-piece exhibit at the museum in
Ramallah, in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, faced immediate backlash after it was installed on
Sunday.
Shehab News Agency published a picture of the caricatures showing
a smiling Arafat in his trademark kuffiyeh headdress with his nose and mouth
oversized and slightly distorted.
Supporters of Arafat, who died in 2004, took to Twitter
posting photographs with the caption: "This is the icon we know".
Activists from
Fatah, the Palestinian movement Arafat
founded, demanded an investigation into how the images came to be displayed.
In a statement, the museum insisted the images were merely
artistic impressions of a revered Palestinian leader.
"The displayed drawings, while some of them are
somewhat controversial, represent the viewpoint of their makers regarding their
support for the Palestinian cause and the late president Yasser Arafat,"
the statement issued late Monday said.
A museum spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that pieces had been
taken down.
Palestinian leaders have denounced the exhibit.
In a Facebook post, a former culture minister at the
Palestinian Authority, Ihab Bseiso, who sits on the board of the Yasser Arafat
Foundation that runs the museum called the display "absurd".
The foundation established in 2007 was for years led by
Arafat’s nephew Nasser Al-Kidwa.
Kidwa was sacked from the organization last year amid a
bitter fallout with Fatah after he announced plans to back a list of rival
candidates in scheduled Palestinian elections, polls that were ultimately
cancelled.
In social media posts this week, Kidwa charged that his
uncle's legacy was under assault by those now running the museum.
"We previously said that the Yasser Arafat Foundation,
and the museum had been hijacked and confiscated by force from the authorities
responsible in complete violation of the foundation’s laws and
regulations," he said.
"Yasser Arafat's legacy and biography, unfortunately,
are not safe," he said.
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