zawya.com

Arafat shuts down bloody Palestinian art expo of suicide attacks

NABLUS, West Bank, Sept 25 (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ordered the dismantling of a bloody art exhibition Tuesday, two days after it opened to commemorate last month's suicide bombing at a Jerusalem pizzeria, a senior security official said.

The art exhibition at Annajah university in the West Bank town of Nablus was set to mark the first anniversary of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, but was dismantled Tuesday, according to university officials.

The exhibit, organized by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, contained a room-sized installation with broken tables splattered with fake blood, pizza and human body parts.

"The president was gravely disturbed and offended by the images in the exhibit," said the senior security official in statement.

He added that Arafat "further instructed the authorities concerned to investigate the matter and reprimand those responsible."

On the wall of the show hung a portrait of suicide bomber Ezzaldin Almasri, holding a Koran in one hand and a rifle in the other.

Underneath, in a reference to the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades -- the military wing of Hamas -- the painter has written: "Qassami Pizza is more delicious."

Outside the exhibition, which opened Sunday, a mural depicted the Sbarro pizzeria bombing, graphically illustrating screaming Israelis in skullcaps being blown apart by the blast.

The exhibit came at an inopportune time for Arafat, who quickly distanced himself from the event as he attempts to join the US-led coalition against terrorism and revive the peace process with Israel.

He is due to have long-awaited talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres Wednesday.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001