Gaza _ Palestine News Network
Belgium on Saturday announced the suspension of funding for Palestinian schools, claiming "the names of the perpetrators of attacks on some of them."
Belgian Cooperation Minister Alexander de Kru said the suspension of the payment of funds for the construction of Palestinian schools was a protest against the Palestinian Authority´s commitment to release the names of martyrs to its schools.
"At the same time, cooperation will continue in other areas such as the improvement of human rights, private sector development and digital entrepreneurship," he said.
The Belgian minister noted that his country will continue to support UNRWA schools, but will not pay for the construction of new schools.
The Ministry of Education also confirmed that it had requested a formal clarification from Belgium following its decision to stop funding Palestinian schools because they bore the names of Palestinian martyrs.
Since last year, European countries have pressured the Palestinian Ministry of Education to change the names of schools with the names of two operations, including Dalal al-Mughrabi.
These attempts were unsuccessful, and the name of the Moroccan martyr was also released on two schools, which Belgium did not finance, which prompted the Belgian Government to stop cooperating with the Ministry of Education despite the good relations that Brussels is bringing to the Palestinian government.
The Moroccan martyr participated in a commando operation against Israeli military targets on March 14, 1978, with the group "Deir Yassin " affiliated to the "Fatah " movement, and hijacked a bus travelling from Haifa to Tel Aviv, which was cited in that operation.
