Illegal Israeli Settlers Torch Yasouf Mosque Near, Salfit

Settlers Torch a Mosque Near Salfit

Friday December 11, 2009 01:22 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

A group of fundamentalist illegal Israeli Jewish settlers burnt on Friday at dawn large sections of the “Great Mosque” in Yasouf village, near the central West Bank city of Salfit. The settlers also sprayed “Price Tag” and “We Will Burn You All” on the walls of the mosque.

Head of Yasouf village council, Abdul-Rahim Musleh, told the Maan News Agency that the settlers torched the second floor of the mosque located in the center of the village.

Musleh added that the settlers first broke into the mosque by smashing its main door and then poured fuel in it before setting it ablaze.

He said that the fire consumed the library of the mosque and most of the carpets before the villagers and local firefighters rushed to put it off.

Musleh stated that the settlers wrote graffiti on the walls of the mosque, some calling for “revenge”, other calling for burning all Palestinians, and added that the Palestinian police and the Israeli army opened investigations into the attack.

The settlers likely came from Tapoah illegal settlement located near the village.
The torched mosque is one of four in the village which is surrounded by Israeli settlements.

Head of the so-called Civil Administration Office, which is controlled by the Israeli military, denounced the attack and “vowed to apprehend the assailants and prosecute them”.

Arab member of Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, head of the United Arab List – Ta’al faction, said that Israel’s Defense Minister and the Israeli army must be held accountable for this attack and the ongoing state of lawlessness of the fundamentalist settlers.

He added that the settlers already started their “revenge” several months ago and burnt Palestinian orchards.

Illegal Israeli settlers set fire to mosque

Published today (updated) 11/12/2009 11:37 [MaanImages - Archive] Nablus – Ma’an –

Illegal Israeli settlers set fire to the Al-Kabir Mosque in the village of Yasouf, east of the town of Salfit early on Thursday, local officials said.

The village’s mayor, Abdul Rahim Musleh, told Ma’an that settlers broke the main gate of mosque at 4am and set fire to the building’s second floor.

He said the fire destroyed copies of the Quran and carpets which were inside. Settlers also wrote graffiti in Hebrew on the mosque’s floor saying “We will have our revenge” and “We will burn you all,” the official added.

Residents of the village scrambled to put out the fire, he said. Palestinian Authority security forces also arrived and began an investigation.

The modern mosque stands in the center of the village of 2000 people.

Tension is high in the West Bank since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a partial slowdown on expansion of settlements two weeks ago.

Angry settlers have vowed to resist the 10-month construction ban and also punish the Palestinian population in what they call a “price tag” campaign.

The Israeli military issued a statement saying it “condemns the vandalism of the Palestinian mosque.” It added that the Civil Administration received a complaint about the attack, and Israeli forces were searching for the perpetrators.

The military also said the head of the Civil Administration, General Yoav Mordechai, spoke personally with Palestinian Authority officials, including the governor of Salfit about the incident.

Netanyahu's construction ban applies only to certain settlements outside Israel’s expanded municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, and only to new buildings, not those already underway when the policy was announced.

The moratorium has galvanized the settler movement. On Wednesday night tens of thousands of settlers demonstrated in Paris Square West Jerusalem urging the expansion of settlements and denouncing Netanyahu.

Netanyahu came under pressure from the US government to freeze all settlement construction in the entire West Bank as a step toward renewing peace negotiations. The Palestinian Authority however dismissed the slowdown as insufficient.

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