Arab council removes sign naming street after Arafat

The Jatt Arab local council in the Haifa area has removed a street sign bearing the name of Palestine Liberation Organization founder Yasser Arafat, as well as the rest of the street signs in its jurisdiction that carry the names of controversial Palestinian leaders.

On Sunday, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri sent a letter to council head Muhammed Wattad -- a former MK -- informing him that he had 48 hours to remove the "Arafat Street" sign.

"In the past few days, it has been brought to our attention that on one of the streets in the Jatt local council are signs that bear the name of a street named after Yasser Arafat," Deri wrote,.

The Interior Ministry had not authorized the street name, he wrote, and no street by that name was registered with the Interior Ministry's Population Administration. The council was given two days to remove the signs bearing the unofficial tribute.

On Sunday evening, Deri expressed his satisfaction at the council's decision to remove the signs saying "Arafat Street," as well as other signs for "Hajj Amin al-Husseini Street." Al-Husseini was the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and a militant Palestinian nationalist.

The Jatt local council also announced that it would instruct its place naming committee to revisit the names on street signs in Jatt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting that "no street in the State of Israel will be named after murderers of Israelis and Jews."

The naming of Yasser Arafat Street was first reported on the Walla news website. According to the report, the street was discovered through the use of the Waze navigation app, and IDF veterans approached the interior minister demanding that the name of the street be changed.