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POSITION OF THE PALESTINIAN NON GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANISATIONS’ NETWORK (PNGO) ON THREATS MADE BY PALESTINIAN GROUPS
AGAINST SCANDINAVIANS RESIDENT IN PALESTINE AS A RESULT OF THE
CARICATURE DEPICTION OF PROPHET MOHAMMED (PBUN)
PNGO wishes to express its regret that caricatures of the Prophet
Mohammed (Peace be upon Him) originally published in the Danish
daily newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, in September 2005, reprinted in a
Norwegian weekly, Magnizet, in January 2006 and, subsequently in
French, Belgian, Jordanian, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch and
Irish newspapers in the past few days, were printed in the first
instance.
PNGO is of the view that the editors of these publications should
have exercised better judgment and shown restraint with respect to
their decisions to publish these caricatures which are widely
regarded as racist and offensive to Muslims the world over.
However, PNGO also strongly condemns the attendant actions members
of these militant groups have taken in reaction to these insensitive
and blasphemous cartoons, including the kidnapping of a German
teacher in Nablus, the forced closures of representative offices,
diplomatic offices and foreign ministries in Gaza and the West Bank,
the invasion of West Bank hotels by masked gunmen in search of
foreigners to take hostage and threats to forcibly close
international media offices and to harm Internationals, including
aid workers and journalists, currently working and residing in
Palestine unless they leave the West Bank and Gaza in the next few
days.
PNGO demands that the Palestinian Authority brings an immediate end
to these militant groups’ threats of physical retribution and their
calls for Internationals to vacate Palestine. These are contrary
what we are renowned for - our hospitable culture and customs.
PNGO endorses the fundamental democratic right of freedom of
expression, as long as it is exercised within the Rule of Law and
responsibly.
The Palestinian Non Governmental Organisations’ Network (PNGO)
Source: PNGO
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