MUFTI OFAL QUDS CONDEMNS AL-HUDA MOSQUE ATTACK

Al-Quds (Jerusalem), 7 Jumadil Awwal 1436/26 February 2015 (MINA) – The mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, condemned Israeli settlers’ attack on a mosque in Bethlehem’s village of al-Jab’a on Wednesday morning.

He pointed out that the settlers’ attack came in coincidence with the anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in al-Khalil and the continued Israeli violations in al-Aqsa Mosque, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The Israeli occupation authorities have turned Palestinian holy sites into an election card to win votes of extremist settlers,” he said. “The attacks on mosques are part of a systematic policy to inflame the conflict.”

Sheikh Hussein called for defending mosques and holy sites in light of the scorched-earth policy carried out by the settlers.

Along the same line, spokesman for Hamas Movement Sami Abu Zuhri considered the mosque arson attack as part of Israeli terrorism against Palestinians.

Abu Zuhri stressed the need for urgent Arab and Islamic intervention to rein in Israeli deliberate targeting of Islamic holy places in the Palestinian territories.

For its part, Jihad Movement called for “unifying Palestinian efforts to defend holy sites and to strongly respond to the Israeli brutal terrorism”.

Targeting holy sites is a systematic Israeli policy that has been carried out since 1948, the Movement said, pointing to the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre 21 years ago.

Commenting on the arson, the popular resistance movement in Palestine stressed the urgent need to put an end to “the Israeli settlers’ terrorist attacks” that aim at uprooting and displacing Palestinians from their homeland.

The movement called on PA security forces to provide protection for the Palestinian people and their holy places and to prevent any future attack by all possible means.

In his turn, the PLC member Youssef Sharafi said that setting fire to a mosque in Bethlehem’s village of al-Jab’a and daubing anti-Arab graffiti on its walls is a serious and flagrant new violation against Islamic holy shrines.

The Hamas-affiliated MP blamed the continued security coordination between the PA security apparatuses and occupation forces for stepping up settlers’ attacks.

Resistance is the sole option to deter Israeli occupation’s attacks and violations of Palestinian holy sites and its confiscation policy, he underlined.

Early Wednesday, a flock of Israeli vandals started a fire in al-Huda mosque in Bethlehem’s village of al-Jab’a. The settlers further sprayed the walls of the mosque with racist and offensive graffiti calling to step up antagonism and attacks against Arabs and Muslims.(T/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)