RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: A senior Palestinian official Saturday demanded an apology from Eurovision song contest organizers after the Palestinian flag was among a list of banned banners at next month’s event in Sweden.
Palestine Liberation Organization second in command Saeb Erakat made the demand in a letter addressed to the president of the European Broadcasting Union, Jean-Paul Philippot.
“The Eurovision song contest this year will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, the first EU member state in Western Europe to officially recognize the State of Palestine,” Erakat wrote.
“Your decision is totally biased and unacceptable.
“We call upon you to immediately revoke this shameful decision. It’s also equally necessary for the European Broadcasting Union to apologize to Palestine and to millions of Palestinians around the world.”
Organizers of the annual contest have already come under fire from Spain, which condemned a ban on the Basque regional flag.
“It is a constitutional, legal and legitimate flag and the Spanish government will defend it whenever needed,” Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Friday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo spoke to Madrid’s ambassador in Sweden “so that he could immediately tell the organization that it is a constitutional flag and cannot be in that list,” a ministry spokeswoman has said.
Eurovision has apologized to Spain and blamed the publication by mistake of a draft version of its flag policy listing banned banners, including that of the Daesh group.
Under Eurovision rules, regional flags or those belonging to federated states, or including commercial, religious or political messages, are all banned.
Those that are allowed are the flags of countries taking part in the contest and any other UN member state, as well as the EU flag.
Eurovision spokesman Dave Goodman told AFP that “the flag policy is not aimed against specific territories or organizations, and certainly does not compare them to each other.”
Eurovision hits low note, bans Palestinian flag
Eurovision hits low note, bans Palestinian flag
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
