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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