Posted on 07/02/2002 2:04:05 PM PDT by knighthawk
THE HAGUE, July 2 (IslamOnline) – More than 20 thousand Palestinian flags hang outside Dutch balconies in several Dutch cities – the work of a solidarity campaign organized by Dutch and Palestinian associations.
Organizers said hanging the Palestinian flags was also an act of solidarity with Greta Duisenberg, wife of the European Central Bank CEO, who has been recently sued for insisting on hanging the Palestinian flag outside the balcony of her home in an upper class neighborhood in Amsterdam.
Duisenberg took part in a demonstration April 13 in solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada. She decided to keep the Palestinian flag outside her home balcony as an expression of her sympathy with the Palestinian resistance and their legitimate right to an independent state, and her rejection of the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people.
She has found great support among the Muslim minority, especially for standing up against Jewish pressure groups.
On May 27th, the Jewish Union in Holland, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that represents Dutch Jews, announced plans to file a complaint to the preliminary court in Amsterdam in order to sue Duisenberg for “anti-Semitism”.
Algemeen Dagblad, a daily Dutch newspaper, quoted Tuesday, May 28, Vicken De Leo, the liberal party member of the Amsterdam Municipal Council as saying that it was Duisenberg’s neighbor who led the campaign against her it sued her.
Duisenberg resisted pressure from her neighbors and her husband’s friends – let alone the media – to remove the Palestinian flag from her balcony.
“I am the one responsible for hanging the flag outside my balcony and not my husband Wim,” Greta said in an interview with the Dutch Telegraph newspaper. “I have raised this flag in a demonstration in Amsterdam and have decided ever since to keep it hanging outside my home balcony in a show of continued support.”
She is unhappy with the way Holland and Europe have been dealing with hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government’s actions in Palestinian cities during the last few weeks, she said, adding 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.
Dutch papers have recently attacked Muslim protestors who burnt the Israeli flag in pro-Palestinian demonstrations that were held in the Dutch capital during the month of April. They saw these demonstrations as an indication of the end of the Jewish control over the city and the start of a new era in which Muslims are in control.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Cohen, 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 their being a minority, Jews exercise a lot of political and economic influence in the Netherland. They also control the media. The Dutch 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 arrived as refugees with the start of Inquisition, following the fall of Muslim Spain (Al-Andalus) in the fifteenth century.
The recent events in Palestine and the second Intifada against Israeli occupation have pushed the Muslim minority in the city to surmount their differences and to unite in huge demonstrations which many felt threatened the “Jewish indentity” of the city.
Meanwhile, Queen Beatrix of Holland visited June 26 the Al-Islam mosque which lies in a popular district of The Hague. The Queen spoke to the Imam of the mosque and the people in the administration of her trust in the role that mosques and Islamic institutions play in merging Muslims in Dutch social life.
The visit came as a surprise for the Dutch people, especially at a time when hardliners have launched a ferocious campaign against mosque Imams, demanding Dutch authorities to expel them for allegedly “encouraging hatred and animosity against non-Muslims.”
Muslim figures have described the Queen’s visit as a positive step that demonstrates the Dutch leadership’s awareness of the illogical motives behind attacking Imams.
According to official reports, the city’s Muslim population has far exceeded the Jewish population, reaching 20 per cent from the population of Amsterdam.
Nearly 50 per cent of the newborns during the next twenty years will be Muslim, official sources say, which means a drastic change in the social, cultural and political structure of the city which is one of the most important economic centers in Europe.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Cohen, of Jewish origins, appeared in the Dutch media angry at the burning of the Israeli flag in his city
No, he was angry about the nazi-symbols who where carried, although this was forbidden.
Despite their being a minority, Jews exercise a lot of political and economic influence in the Netherland. They also control the media.
So that's why all the anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian comments on national tv?
The Queen spoke to the Imam of the mosque and the people in the administration of her trust in the role that mosques and Islamic institutions play in merging Muslims in Dutch social life.
The queen is unable to think for herself and should check out the media:
Fanatical imams: group preaches hatred in Dutch mosques
'Moderate' Islam in the Netherlands: The Trukish organization Milli Görüs
More pro-Palestina demonstrations:
Muslims and neo-nazi's protest together against Israel (in Holland)
The only more or less positive news is that a church in Rotterdam hung an Israeli flag next to the Palestinian flag...
Germans? Where?
I believe 55 or so years ago the Dutch were one of the least anti-Semitic countries in Europe.
The cancer is spreading...
The mayority of the people is more neutral about it, although the media is doing it's best to convince them Israel is the agressor and the Palestinians are only UN-respecting freedom fighters.
Norway Trade Body Calls For Boycotting Israeli Products (by labeling them with YELLOW stickers!!!)
Anti-Semitism: 'Vandalism' worries Jews in Paris
They also have medicalized euthanasia. Old folks have taken to wearing braclets saying "I do not want to die" when going to the hospital. They're scared.
A lot passes by the dutch because they're too busy gettin' high or having a time of it in the redlight district to be concerned with their culture.
Oh...and this is the same agenda as hardcore libertarians...minus the legalized kiddie porn.
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