No Israeli streets to be named after Arafat: Netanyahu
Netanyahu suggests potential law to prevent streets being named after iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
By Kaamil Ahmed
JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday a street in an Arab-Israeli town cannot be named after the iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Netanyahu was reacting to complaints by former Israeli soldiers about the name of a road in the northern town of Jatt that was named after the Palestinian leader.
"We cannot allow streets in the State of Israel to be named after Yasser Arafat and Haj Amin al-Husseini and others,” Netanyahu said at his weekly cabinet meeting.
“We will make the arrangements, including new legislation if need be, so that this does not happen here," he said.
On Saturday, Netanyahu said he will seek to remove the street sign bearing Arafat’s name in the northern town.
The late Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader remains a hated figure for many Israelis despite being widely popular among Palestinians and having been jointly-awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize alongside then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for signing the Oslo peace accords.
