December 11, 2009

In what seems to signal an escalation of organized Jewish terror against Palestinians and their property, suspected Jewish terrorists on Friday torched a mosque in the northern West Bank .

Palestinians sources said armed settlers from a nearby settlement threw flammable substance inside the Hasan Khadr Mosque at the village of Yasuf near Salfit, 15 kilometers, south west of Nablus .

The incident occurred around 4:00 am shortly before dawn.

The suspected terrorists also scrawled Nazis slogans in Hebrew, reading "revenge" and "we will burn all of you." Other scrawls read "price-tag-greeting from Effi" Effi is a Hebrew name.

Yasuf local council head Abdul Rahim Musleh said the fire gutted the mosque’s interior, including the carpeted floor, numerous, numerous Qurans and as well as furniture..

The targeted mosque is the largest of four mosques in the village of 2000 inhabitants.

Munir Abbushi, the governor of the Salfit district, where the terrorist act took place, accused the Israeli government and army of encouraging the settler terrorists to attack Palestinians.

"The Israeli army is doing nothing to protect the Palestinians from the settler aggression. Army inaction encourages the settlers to escalate their terror against our people and holy places," said Abbushi.

The head of the Israeli army’s so-called Civil Administration in the West Bank , Yoav Mordechai, condemned the torching of the mosque, saying he would see to it that the perpetrators are apprehended and brought to justice.

However, Palestinians doubt Israeli sincerity in combating organized Jewish terror carried out by settlers indoctrinated in extremist religious ideology advocating genocide against non-Jews.

Khalid Maali, a Palestinian journalist from Salfit, attributed the incident to repeated edicts, or religious rulings, by rabbis urging settlers to kill Palestinians and vandalize their property.

"These rabbis are saying in broad daylight that it is a mitzvah (good religious deed) to murder non-Jews and destroy their property. And these terrorist settlers are simply acting on and carrying out these edicts."

Maali charged that the Israeli government and army were legitimizing settler attacks against Palestinians by failing to apprehend and punish terrorists involved in terrorist attacks.

"This is tantamount to encouraging them to commit more terror. When these terrorist are allowed to get away with impunity, the Israeli government is effectively telling them that you can attack Palestinians and torch mosques and have nothing to worry about."

Reactions

The torching of the Hasan Khadr mosque has drawn angry reactions from Palestinian leaders on both sides of the Green Line.

Ahmed Teibi, a prominent leader of the 1.5 million-strong Arab community in Israel , who is also a Knesset member, held Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak responsible for this "sinful act."

"By giving these thugs (Jewish settlers) a carte blanch to maraud and rampage throughout the West Bank , the Israeli army and government are effectively encouraging them to commit crimes against the Palestinians."

He urged the occupation army to immediately put an end to settler terror and violence before the situation gets out of hand.

The league of Muslim Ulema or religious scholars in occupied Palestine strongly condemned the "sacrilegious act," calling on the Palestinian Authority to stop stripping Palestinians of fire arms.

"The PA has stripped the people of their arms. Now we stand unable to defend and protect ourselves. And the PA security agencies are not allowed to repulse settler attacks as their only task is to fight the resistance fighters," said league chief Sheikh Hamed al Beitawi.

Al-Beitawi, who is also an elected member of the Palestinian legislative council who has spent years in Israeli jails for opposing the Israeli military occupation, also denounced rabbis for issuing edicts to their followers, inciting them to murder Palestinians and vandalize their property.

"These rabbis call themselves men of peace, but true men of peace don’t incite to terror and hatred and bloodshed. Imagine how these rabbis would react if a Jewish synagogue was torched in London or in Paris. They would invoke the entire history of anti-Semitism from the Spanish inquisition to the Nazi holocaust."

Settler leaders have repeatedly said they will attack Palestinians and their property every time the Israeli army moves to vacate settlers from illegal outposts. The threats have been carried out, with settlers attacking Palestinian farmers, especially olive-pickers, businesses and now mosques.

This is not the first time Jewish terrorists attack Muslim holy places. In 1994, a Jewish terrorist who had immigrated from the United States, riddled Muslim worshipers with bullets at the Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown al Khalil, killing 29 and injuring and maiming dozens.

The terrorist, Baruch Goldstein, who was eventually killed by survivors, became a saintly figure for right-wing Jewish fanatics who advocate the extermination, enslavement or expulsion of non-Jews from mandatory Palestine (the land between the River Jordan to the Mediterranean).

The Aqsa Mosque in al Quds has also been a constant target for organized Jewish terror since Israel occupied the city from Jordan in 1967.

Similarly, other mosques, both in the West Bank and pre-1948 Palestine, have been repeatedly vandalized and desecrated by supremacist Jewish groups seeking the extirpation of non-Jews from Palestine.