Illegal Israeli Settlers Set Fire in Burqa Mosque After Burning Jerusalemite Mosque of Ukasha, December 15, 2011

Illegal Israeli Settlers Set Fire in Burqa Mosque After Burning Jerusalemite Mosque of Ukasha

December 15, 2011

Illegal Israeli Settlers Torch A Mosque In Ramallah

Thursday December 15, 2011 10:59 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

A group of illegal fanatic Israeli Jewish settlers burnt, on Thursday at dawn, a mosque in Burqa village, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and wrote racist graffiti on its walls. The incident is the latest of a series of attacks against Palestinian mosques and property.

According to eyewitness accounts, the settlers burnt the first and second floors of the mosque, after writing offensive graffiti regarding Arabs, Palestinians and Islam.

A resident of Burqa village told the Arabs48 News Website that a group of fanatical armed settlers invaded the village at dawn, and burnt the mosque, causing considerable damage.

The attack comes one day after a similar arson –attempt targeted Ukasha historic mosque in Jerusalem. Before setting parts of the mosque ablaze, the settlers spray-painted racist graffiti targeting the Palestinians and the Muslim prophet.

Several mosques were attacked and burnt over the last few months in the occupied West Bank, in addition to an arson attack in Tuba-Zangaria, in the Galilee, in which the settlers destroyed the town mosque, and wrote ‘price tag’ graffiti in Hebrew.

On Wednesday, the settlers burnt four Palestinian cars in Nablus and Salfit districts.

Israeli media have reported that the settlers engaging in the price tag campaign no longer fear repercussions from the Israeli police for their attacks on Palestinian mosques and other holy sites.

The Price Tag attacks are carried out against the Palestinians, their property and holy sites, and against peace groups and leftist figures in Israel.

The settlers hold the Palestinians and Israeli peace groups responsible for the evacuation of illegal outposts in the West Bank.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army dismantled two structures in the illegal Mitzpeh Yitzhar settlement in the West Bank.

In related news, Israeli troops closed the Huwwara and Za’atara roadblocks on Thursday morning, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, under the pretext of preventing settler attacks against Palestinian vehicles in the area.

Soldiers also installed roadblocks in the northern West Bank districts of Qalqilia and Tulkarem.

Burqa West Bank Mosque Attacked

France 24, 15 December, 2011 - 13H54, AFP -

Illegal Israeli Jewish settlers on Thursday torched another mosque in the latest "price tag" reprisal attack as Israeli troops demolished part of an illegal Israeli settlement outpost in the northern West Bank.

It was the second time in as many days that vandals had tried to burn down a mosque and left Hebrew-language graffiti at the scene in a protest linked to state plans to dismantle a handful of wildcat settler outposts.

The attacks sparked an angry Palestinian response, with officials accusing the Israeli occupation government of providing "impunity" to the illegal Israeli Jewish settlers.

"Setting fire to the mosque is a declaration of war by the settlers against Palestinians," presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaina told AFP.

And the Palestinian Authority said Israeli forces had done nothing "to prevent or punish the rising trend of settler violence".

"This policy encourages settler hate crimes against Palestinians and their places of worship," it said. "Such incidents have continued unabated while Israeli policies are providing impunity to those extremists."

Thursday's arson attempt targeted a mosque in Burqa village near Ramallah.

"Carpets and chairs in the women's section were partly burnt and on the wall was Hebrew graffiti saying 'The war has started'," said Mayor Abdul Qader Abdul Jalil.

They also wrote "Mitzpe Yitzhar" on the walls, the name of the outpost which was partially dismantled by troops overnight, angering the settler community.

The attack took place 24 hours after extremists tried to set light to a disused mosque in central Jerusalem, daubing racist anti-Arab graffiti on its walls in a move which drew sharp condemnation from Washington.

Despite a flurry of attacks on mosques and other Palestinian property in the past few days, debate in Israel has been focused squarely on an incident earlier this week when settlers attacked troops in the northern West Bank.

The move angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who on Wednesday announced new measures against Jewish "rioters" who attack the security forces.

Under the new regulations, the army as well as the police will now have the authority to detain offenders, and they will be tried in military courts rather than in civilian courts.

The security forces will also be able to put offenders in administrative detention, in which a person can be held without charge for an unspecified length of time, and there will be an increase in orders barring individuals from areas of the West Bank.

"Those who raise a hand against Israeli soldiers or police will be punished severely," Netanyahu said, but stopped short of adopting a ministerial recommendation to classify them as "terrorists."

The attack on Burqa coincided with an Israeli army operation to dismantle two structures in the Mitzpe Yitzhar settler outpost near Nablus.

Troops demolished a house and a goat shed, which were built on private Palestinian land, to comply with a Supreme Court order to remove them by the end of the year.

Settler activists had hoped to prevent the operation but appeared to be taken by surprise, with troops reportedly entering the area via a Palestinian village, then declaring the outpost a closed military zone.

Police said there were no reports of any disturbances.

Avraham Binyamin, a spokesman for the community, told AFP that the residents' response to the demolitions would be further construction.

"We are not involved in acts of violence against the army," he said. "We are going to build, that is the answer of the Jewish settlement movement."

Israel considers settlement outposts built without government approval to be illegal and often sends security personnel to demolish them. They usually consist of little more than a few trailers.

But the international community considers all settlements built in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, to be illegal.

Jewish settlers burn a mosque in Jerusalem, threaten further assaults

[ 14/12/2011 - 09:27 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

A large number of illegal Israeli Jewish settlers at dawn Wednesday set fire to a mosque in the occupied Jerusalem as part of the “price tag” campaign by the extremist settlers against Palestinians.

Palestinian and Israeli sources said that a group of settlers broke into "Ukasha" mosque in the west Jerusalem and set fire to it causing some damage.

The assailants daubed the walls of the mosque with anti-Arab, anti-Muslim graffiti and insults to Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). They also wrote in Hebrew "price tag". The attack is similar to a series of attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinian people, property and holy places in the West Bank and 1948-occupied areas. Each time further attacks are threatened.

Spokesman for the fire brigades Assaf Abras said that initial investigation into the fire indicate arson and said that the Jerusalem municipality ordered the closure of the mosque after the fire was put out.

Settlers set Palestinian cars on fire in the northern West Bank

[ 14/12/2011 - 09:06 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)--

Illegal Israeli Jewish settlers set fire to three Palestinian cars on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in different part of the Nablus and Salfit districts in the northern West Bank.

Local sources in the village of Doma to the south of Nablus said that Jewish settlers Wednesday morning set fire to a car belonging to the Abdel-Razzaq Dawabsha. They also set fire to a water tank and tried to torch a bus.

In the village of Yasuf which lies a few meters from the Za’tara IOF roadblock to the south of Nablus, villagers reported that a tractor belonging to the settlers set fire to a car that belongs to Muhammad Musleh at the entrance of the village.

In the village of Kifel Hares in Salfit district, settlers set fire to a car that belongs to Ahmad Eid at the entrance to the village. The settlers daubed graffiti in Hebrew on village walls reading "price tag"

National conference: Settlers' arson attack on J'lem mosque a declaration of war

[ 15/12/2011 - 12:52 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

The secretariat of the popular national conference for Jerusalem strongly denounced the arson attack that was carried out by Jewish settlers on a Mosque west of the occupied holy city and described it as a "declaration of war."

In a press release on Wednesday, this popular movement said the repeated arson attacks on Mosques in the occupied Palestinian lands are a war waged by the Israeli government which provides full support for the settlers' violations.

"The Zionist entity's adoption of the policy of settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian lands has contributed greatly to promoting the systematic hostile activities of the settlers as their attacks, through organized gangs, are accelerating and increasing against everything Palestinian," the secretariat stressed.

"The Israeli security apparatuses stand watching and taking no action to deal with these attacks, the thing which has strengthened the capabilities of those gangs that are working day and night in a race against time to impose a new fait accompli and violate Palestinians' honor and holy sites throughout the homeland," it added.

"Such systematic violations of the settlers have left the Palestinians with no choice but to confront and repel their repeated attacks."

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