The mayor of the Palestinian town of Jatt in Israel is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the last thing a Palestinian patriot and representative of a nationalist community wants is to take down a street sign bearing the name of Yasser Arafat. On the other hand, the local official has to respect the law and the order by the Israeli minister of interior that requires governmental approval prior to posting any street sign.

In a phone interview with Al-Monitor, Mayor Muhammad Taher Wattad said the street sign has been up since 2008 when the town of Jatt merged with the nearby town of Baqa al-Gharbiya. The twin towns were under the direction of a government-appointed committee headed by Yacov Valed, an Israeli Jew, Wattad said.

Wattad insists on the right of his town to name the street after the popular Palestinian leader. “Yasser Arafat is not only a Palestinian symbol, he is the father to all Palestinians. He sacrificed his life and died as a martyr of Palestine, but for us as a legal entity, we must respect the law.”

Wattad, who is a lawyer by profession, said that the town council was surprised the street sign was never approved by the Ministry of Interior. “The current council met March 5 and decided to temporarily bring down the sign and then make an official request for approval. If the Ministry of Interior fails to agree, we will take the case all the way to the Israeli High Court.”