WEST BANK: Israeli military prevents sympathy visit of rabbi delegation from entering vandalized West Bank mosque

Record ID: 561050

  • Title: WEST BANK: Israeli military prevents sympathy visit of rabbi delegation from entering vandalized West Bank mosque
  • Date: 14th December 2009
  • Summary: GROUP OF JEWISH RABBIS, COMING TO MEND RELATIONS WITH VILLAGE RESIDENTS, DENIED ENTRY TO VILLAGE ARE SINGING AT CHECKPOINT
  • Embargoed: 29th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAA18G8Q9CPX4LGQQX88OK76OBR
  • Story Text: A delegation of some 20 Jewish rabbis on Sunday (December 13) was stopped by the Israeli military on their way to the West Bank village of Yasuf, where they planned to offer their sympathy to local residents, after their mosque was vandalized by what is believed to be a group of Jewish settlers.
    The rabbis met with local religious leaders on the checkpoint near the village, after the area was declared a closed military zone by the Israeli military.
    The Rabbis presented the local leaders with Koran books instead of those ruined in the fire.
    "We are here today in order to protest against the deed done in the mosque. According to our law, our divine law, this is a crime," Rabbi Menahem Fruman told Reuters Television at the checkpoint.
    Israeli military spokesperson said that the delegation was refused entrance to the village because their visit was not properly co-ordinated, but that details of a future visit to the village are now being discussed.
    Palestinians from the small village near Nablus reported on Friday morning that a gang of Jewish settlers forced their way into the local mosque at night, doused carpets and copies of the koran with petrol, and set them ablaze.
    Graffiti scrawled in Hebrew at the entrence said it was "the price-tag" -- an expression that hardline Jewish settlers use to describe their acts against Palestinians, as retaliation against Israeli government decisions they see as harming Jewish settlements.
    The Israeli army, Israeli president Shimon Peres and the Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak all issued statements condemning the vandalism.
    Later on Sunday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad arrived at the mosque in order to observe the damage caused by the vandals.
    "This re-emphasizes the Palestinian position that 'there is no peace with settlements'. This was made clear here in Yasouf after the terrorist act that took place here by those settlers. But this act will not deter us, but only will only increase our desire to insist on resistance, and our desire to remain on this land. We are on this land, this is our homeland, and we have no other homeland beside it," Fayyad said.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a freeze on some settlement building three weeks ago, in what his government said was a gesture to Washington to help re-start peace talks with the Palestinians.
    Palestinian leaders have refused to resume negotiations, saying the temporary moratorium did not go far enough.
    Some Israeli settlers have denounced Netanyahu for betraying their trust, and several thousand held a protest.
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