BanglaBhoot
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In the corner of the mosque a pile of ashes on a scorched carpet is all that remains of 100 holy books, Korans and copies of the Hadith sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. On the tiled porch outside, the vandals left their calling card, a graffiti message in Hebrew that reads: Price tag greetings from Effi.
Some time around dawn yesterday, according to Israeli police and Palestinian officials, Jewish extremists crept into Yasuf and desecrated the village mosque. The attack was the latest in the low-level war being waged in the West Bank: Palestinians accuse Jewish settlers of burning their olive orchards, stealing their livestock and even beating them up; the settlers accuse the Palestinians of throwing stones at their cars and burning the caravans they use to set up new outposts.
The price tag is the settlers policy of attacking Palestinians and their property in retribution for any Israeli government curb on settlement expansion. It has been increasingly deployed by hardliners for the past year. Effi is a Jewish male name.
Such an inflammatory move as yesterdays vandalism marked a dangerous new escalation. It appeared to be reaction to the Governments freeze on all new construction in the West Bank settlements, which are deemed illegal by the international community. Settlers say that the move is caving in to American pressure.
The residents of Yasuf, a village of old stone houses only a mile from the Jewish settlement of Kfar Tapuach, learnt of the attack when they went to their prayers in a small hall next to the main mosque, which is used for big festivities and holidays in the Muslim calendar. From there they smelt burning and rushed around to discover the slogan left by the dawn visitors.
Soon after the desecration Palestinian villagers started throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, whom they often accuse of complicity with settlers when they attack them and their orchards. Two Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were hurt in the clashes.
They burnt the holy Koran, Mohammed Musleh, a resident of Yasuf, said. Pointing at the ashes by a charred bookshelf, Hossam Abdelfatah, the mosque orator, said that 100 holy books had been set alight. These are people who have given hard times in the past even to the Prophet himself, so Im not surprised, he said.
The villagers cited a litany of settler attacks, from stealing sheep, trying to stop the olive harvest and even a previous attack on the mosque before local men chased them away. Every year they prevent us from harvesting our olive crop, Mr Musleh said.
A statement from the settlements council denied that anyone from the community was involved and said that the vandalism appeared to be the work of a mentally ill person or a provocation.
The attackers escaped but the Israeli Government was quick to condemn the desecration. This is an extremist act geared toward harming the Governments efforts to advance the political process for the sake of Israels future, said Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, whose department is overseeing the settlement freeze.
The torching of the mosque in Yasuf is a despicable crime and the settlers are behaving with brutality, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, said. The settlers unruly behaviour must be stopped.
There have been rising tensions since Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, announced the proposed freeze last month. Thousands of angry settlers gathered for a demonstration close to the Israeli Prime Ministers residence in Jerusalem this week, vowing to continue building and condemning the decision to bow to pressure from President Obama. They carried banners that said Obama wants us frozen, God wants us chosen and Gods Bible gave us this land.
The settlers believe that the West Bank which they call by the biblical name of Judaea and Samaria should be part of a greater Israel and are adamantly opposed to a Palestinian state. They have torn up freeze orders delivered by the Israeli authorities to settlements in the West Bank and blocked inspectors trying to enforce the building ban. Last week at the settlement of Qedumim, close to Nablus, residents prevented inspectors from entering while cheering as trucks of building materials were brought in.
A right-wing Cabinet minister said that the freeze was largely a sham and that the settler population could grow by as many as 3,000 in the next ten months, the period of the proposed moratorium. This is neither a freeze nor a suspension, Benny Begin, the son of the former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, told a conference in Tel Aviv, according to an Israeli newspaper. Construction in Judaea and Samaria will continue in the next ten months. We are . . . saying that we dont intend to restrict or suspend new building permits.
Mr Netanyahu has tried to temper anger by allocating special development grants to tens of thousands of the settlers, sparking fury from Mr Baraks centrist Labour Party, which has threatened to vote against the measure.
Settlers burn Koran in mosque attack as reprisal for Israel's freeze on expansion - Times Online
Some time around dawn yesterday, according to Israeli police and Palestinian officials, Jewish extremists crept into Yasuf and desecrated the village mosque. The attack was the latest in the low-level war being waged in the West Bank: Palestinians accuse Jewish settlers of burning their olive orchards, stealing their livestock and even beating them up; the settlers accuse the Palestinians of throwing stones at their cars and burning the caravans they use to set up new outposts.
The price tag is the settlers policy of attacking Palestinians and their property in retribution for any Israeli government curb on settlement expansion. It has been increasingly deployed by hardliners for the past year. Effi is a Jewish male name.
Such an inflammatory move as yesterdays vandalism marked a dangerous new escalation. It appeared to be reaction to the Governments freeze on all new construction in the West Bank settlements, which are deemed illegal by the international community. Settlers say that the move is caving in to American pressure.
The residents of Yasuf, a village of old stone houses only a mile from the Jewish settlement of Kfar Tapuach, learnt of the attack when they went to their prayers in a small hall next to the main mosque, which is used for big festivities and holidays in the Muslim calendar. From there they smelt burning and rushed around to discover the slogan left by the dawn visitors.
Soon after the desecration Palestinian villagers started throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, whom they often accuse of complicity with settlers when they attack them and their orchards. Two Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were hurt in the clashes.
They burnt the holy Koran, Mohammed Musleh, a resident of Yasuf, said. Pointing at the ashes by a charred bookshelf, Hossam Abdelfatah, the mosque orator, said that 100 holy books had been set alight. These are people who have given hard times in the past even to the Prophet himself, so Im not surprised, he said.
The villagers cited a litany of settler attacks, from stealing sheep, trying to stop the olive harvest and even a previous attack on the mosque before local men chased them away. Every year they prevent us from harvesting our olive crop, Mr Musleh said.
A statement from the settlements council denied that anyone from the community was involved and said that the vandalism appeared to be the work of a mentally ill person or a provocation.
The attackers escaped but the Israeli Government was quick to condemn the desecration. This is an extremist act geared toward harming the Governments efforts to advance the political process for the sake of Israels future, said Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, whose department is overseeing the settlement freeze.
The torching of the mosque in Yasuf is a despicable crime and the settlers are behaving with brutality, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, said. The settlers unruly behaviour must be stopped.
There have been rising tensions since Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, announced the proposed freeze last month. Thousands of angry settlers gathered for a demonstration close to the Israeli Prime Ministers residence in Jerusalem this week, vowing to continue building and condemning the decision to bow to pressure from President Obama. They carried banners that said Obama wants us frozen, God wants us chosen and Gods Bible gave us this land.
The settlers believe that the West Bank which they call by the biblical name of Judaea and Samaria should be part of a greater Israel and are adamantly opposed to a Palestinian state. They have torn up freeze orders delivered by the Israeli authorities to settlements in the West Bank and blocked inspectors trying to enforce the building ban. Last week at the settlement of Qedumim, close to Nablus, residents prevented inspectors from entering while cheering as trucks of building materials were brought in.
A right-wing Cabinet minister said that the freeze was largely a sham and that the settler population could grow by as many as 3,000 in the next ten months, the period of the proposed moratorium. This is neither a freeze nor a suspension, Benny Begin, the son of the former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, told a conference in Tel Aviv, according to an Israeli newspaper. Construction in Judaea and Samaria will continue in the next ten months. We are . . . saying that we dont intend to restrict or suspend new building permits.
Mr Netanyahu has tried to temper anger by allocating special development grants to tens of thousands of the settlers, sparking fury from Mr Baraks centrist Labour Party, which has threatened to vote against the measure.
Settlers burn Koran in mosque attack as reprisal for Israel's freeze on expansion - Times Online
