Norwegian NGO sponsors map exhibit that swaps Israel, Palestine

Lebanese ‘This is Palestine’ art display organized by group funded by US, European governments

By JTA 7 January 2015, 4:21 am

Edit

Google Maps screenshot showing Tyre, Lebanon.

Paintings of a map that replace Israel with Palestine were displayed at an exhibit in Lebanon funded by a Norwegian NGO.

Funders of the Norwegian People’s Aid NGO, which put on the recent exhibit at a refugee camp next to Tyre, include the Norwegian government, the Canadian International Development Agency and other international donors, according to Palestinian Media Watch.

A 2012 annual report also said that the NGO was funded by the US State Department, USAID-US Agency for International Development, the European Union and the United Nations, the Dutch and Swedish ministries of foreign affairs, Germany and other governments.

The exhibit at the Al-Burj Al-Shamali camp was titled “This is Palestine” and the maps were painted by Palestinian children from Lebanon.

On one map, the text gives the area of Palestine as 27,009 square kilometers, which includes all of Israel. Another map shows the borders of Palestine as the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, while another displays the cities of Palestine identifying Israeli cities and towns.