CAIRO, Feb 2: Outrage spread in the Middle East on Thursday after more European newspapers published cartoons regarded by Muslims as sacrilegious.
Two Palestinian groups — the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Popular Resistance Committee — threatened to kill citizens from France, Denmark and Norway — the three countries where the 12 irreverent depictions have been printed in their entirety.
Protesters forced the closure of the EU’s headquarters in Gaza City, and in the West Bank Norway said it was shutting its mission in response to the threats which it was taking ‘very seriously’.
Tunisia and Morocco banned copies of the French tabloid France Soir, which on Wednesday reprinted cartoons originally published by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in September.
In Qatar, the Carrefour supermarket said it had stopped selling products from Denmark.
In Paris, the owner of France Soir dismissed the publication’s managing editor over the publication of the offending images.
Owner Raymond Lakah said in a statement he had ‘decided to remove Jacques Lefranc as managing director of the publication as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual.
“We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication’ of the cartoons, the statement added.
Jyllands-Posten, the offending newspaper, has already apologised for any hurt the group of 12 cartoons may have caused.
The French government earlier said the decision to reprint the dozen caricatures was the ‘sole responsibility’ of France Soir, while also reaffirming its commitment to freedom of the press.
In Copenhagen, a spokesman for the Danish government said the prime minister had summoned a number of ambassadors for talks on Friday about the controversial cartoons.
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a television interview the issue had gone beyond a feud between Copenhagen and the Muslim world and now centred on Western free speech versus ‘taboos’ in Islam. In October Mr Rasmussen had refused to meet envoys of 11 Muslim states who wanted him to punish Jyllands-Posten.
United Nations chief Kofi Annan waded into the blazing row on Thursday, urging a resolution of the dispute through peaceful dialogue and mutual respect.
“The secretary general is concerned over the controversy that has been created by the publication of the Danish cartoons,” Mr Annan’s spokesman said.
Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran joined the criticism of the cartoons.
“Muslims should display firm reaction to such disgraceful acts,” state television quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying in a telephone conversation with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
Mr Mubarak said freedom of the press, cited by European media and politicians, should not be an excuse for insulting religions.
Many Arab commentators said the European defence rang hollow because, they said, European media protected Judaism and Israel from criticism.
Some called for punishment of the offenders, but others said Arabs had more important things to mobilise against, such as the presence of US military bases in the region.
DELIBERATE PROVOCATION: Arabs, however, saw the cartoons as deliberate provocation.
“It’s no longer a matter of freedom of thought or opinion or belief. It’s a plot hatched against Islam and Muslims, the preparation of which began many years ago,” former editor Samir Ragab wrote in the Egyptian state daily, El Gomhuria.
“If practical concerted measures are not taken, the campaign will become more ferocious,” he added.
“They promote their hatred under the pretext of freedom of expression and turn a blind eye to the crimes that are committed in the name of Christianity and more dangerously Judaism,” said columnist Mohammad Kharoub in the Jordanian daily, Al Rai.
Saudi commentator Hussein Shobokshi, in the pan-Arab daily, Asharq al Awsat, said the West had inconsistent moral criteria. “If the Danish cartoon had been about a Jewish rabbi, it would never have been published,” he said.
JORDANIAN TABLOID: A Jordanian tabloid was pulled from newsstands on Thursday after it defiantly reproduced three of the 12 cartoons.
“The company decided to immediately pull all copies from the market and open an investigation to identify those responsible for this abominable and reprehensible behaviour,” a statement by the Al Shihan newspaper’s management said.
DANISH PM: In the interview with Dubai-based al Arabiya television the Danish prime minister said he and his nation could not be held responsible for what the press published, but all parties should avoid escalating the row.—Reuters/AFP
