Jewish settler terrorists are suspected of vandalising and setting fire to Al-Kabir mosque in the West Bank Palestinian village of Yasuf, located east of Salfit and South of Nablus City. According to Palestinian and Israeli sources, the attackers entered the village in the early hours of Friday and entered the mosque undetected, causing major damage to the newly built mosque.
Abdur Raheem Abu Nuh, the mayor of the village said that the fire had started on the second floor of the mosque – causing extensive damage to the carpet and the library, containing several hundred copies of the Qur’an and other Islamic literature. Moreover, the entrance of the mosque was completely destroyed.
Outside the mosque, the arsonists had sprayed the walls in Hebrew with the words ‘We will burn you all’ and the latest settler slogan ‘price tag’, which was adapted some months ago by extremists Israeli settlers who carry out terrorist activities against Palestinians as a response to the evacuation policy of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by the IDF. Another statement in Hebrew read ‘“We will have our revenge”‘
The mosque is one of the newest and largest mosque in the village and only one of four in the village of Yasuf. The village is home to around 2,000 Palestinians and is surrounded by a number of illegal settlements, the nearest being Tafu.
IDF investigators entered the village later on after Friday prayers, resulting in minor skirmishes between some of the youths of Yasuf and the IDF, who retaliated with tear gas – one young man suffered from head injuries.
Sheikh Hamid el-Betawi, the Head of the Association of Palestinian Scholars and the Deputy Head of the Palestinian Legislative Council condemned the incident and described it as a crime in a series of attacks by Jewish settlers in the occupation of Palestinian land and against the Islamic sanctities.
‘These are barbaric, racist, terrorist crimes target at everything that is sacred amongst Muslims. This is a most demeaning and disgraceful act’
The increase in settler violence against Palestinians continues to exacerbate the daily suffering of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. With no real measures set up to tackle the proliferating attacks originating from these Jewish settlers, the Palestinians are left to suffer in silence.
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