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Palestinian Flag Angers Dutch Jews
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Palestinian’s
Flag outside Duisenberg’s
Window
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By
Khaled Shawkat, IOL Holland correspondent
AMSTERDAM,
May 29 (IslamOnline) – The Jewish Union in Holland, a non-government
organization which represents Dutch Jews, announced Monday, May 27,
that they are going to present a complaint to the preliminary court in
Amsterdam in order to sue Greta Duisenberg, wife of the European
Central Bank for being “anti-Semitic”.
Duisenberg
hung the Palestinian flag outside the balcony of her home in
Amsterdam, which angered the Dutch media known for its bias towards
Israel. The media has attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrations and have
tried to pressure the Dutch government to reassess its attitude
regarding the Palestinian crisis.
Algemeen
Dagblad, a daily Dutch newspaper, quoted Tuesday, May 28, Vicken De
Leo, the liberal party member of the Amsterdam Municipal Council.
Saying that it was Duisenberg’s neighbor who was leading the
condemnation campaign and suing her.
The
paper said that Duisenberg refused the pressures that were placed on
her by her neighbors and her husband’s friends along with the media
and has insisted on keeping the Palestinian flag hung outside her
balcony.
In
an interview published by the Dutch Telegraph newspaper, Greta said:
“I am the one responsible for hanging the flag outside my balcony
and not my husband Wim. I have raised this flag in a demonstration I
took part in, in Amsterdam and decided to hang it to show my
continuing support.”
She
added that she was not satisfied with the way Holland and Europe are
dealing with Sharon’s government actions in the Palestinian cities
during the last few weeks and that she insists on her position.
“I
am an independent thinking woman and responsible for my actions. Both
my husband and I own this house which means I can practice my beliefs
here,” she said.
She
added that raising the flag outside her balcony means that she
supports the Palestinians in their struggle defending themselves
against the aggression of the Israeli government.
Duisenberg
said that her husband being one of the most important personalities in
Europe does not restrict her freedom in expressing her opinion and
that her husband respects her independence as much as she respects his
rights to have his own stances.
Dutch
papers have recently attacked Muslim demonstrators who burnt the
Israeli flag in a pro-Palestinian demonstrations that were held in the
Dutch capital during the month of April. They regarded that as an
indication of the end of the Jewish control over the city and the
start of a new era in which Muslims are controlling the city.
The
mayor of Amsterdam, Cohen, who is of Jewish origins, appeared in the
Dutch media angry at the burning of the Israeli flag in his city,
which is the first time this has taken place ever since Israel came
into existence in 1947.
Despite
being a minority in terms of numbers, Jews are influential
politically, economically in Holland. They also control the media. The
authorities have always appointed a Jewish mayor for the city in
recognition of the role that was played by the Jews in the flourishing
of the city. They had came as refugees when the Inquisition started,
after the fall of Muslim Spain (Al-Andalus) in the fifteenth century.
The
recent events in Palestine and the second intifada have pushed the
Muslim minority in the city to overcome their differences and to unite
in huge demonstrations which many felt threatened the “Jewishness”
of the city.
The
official reports say that Muslim population has far exceeded the
Jewish population, reaching 20 per cent from the population of
Amsterdam.
Dutch
sources have revealed that nearly 50 per cent of the newborns during
the next twenty years will be Muslim which means a central change in
the social, cultural and political structure of the city which is one
of the most important economic centers in Europe.
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