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Roundup: Palestinians condemn setting fire on West Bank mosque

Xinhua, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Palestinians have officially and publicly condemned on Wednesday setting fire to a mosque in a West Bank village near Bethlehem by Israeli settlers.

The act outraged the Palestinians who warned that setting fire to Palestinian mosques would end up with a comprehensive religious war in the entire region.

The mosque was set to fire early Wednesday morning by Israeli settlers in the village of Jab'aa near Bethlehem, according to witnesses.

No'man Hamdan, mayor of the village, told Xinhua earlier that the settlers stormed the village, broke the windows of the mosque, poured flammable substance, set fire on the mosque and wrote graffiti on its walls calling for killing Arabs and Muslims.

He added that when the residents of the village saw the smoke and flames of fire, they immediately rushed to quench it. "It is a serious assault," said Hamdan,

There was no Israeli official comment to the action so far. However, Israeli media reported earlier that after setting fire on the mosque, Israeli soldiers were redeployed in the area while the Israeli police opened an investigation to probe the attack on the mosque.

Head of Palestinian judges Mahmoud Habbash held the Israeli government responsible for burning the mosque. He said that "setting fire to the mosque is past of the ongoing episode of racism that shows how careless the Israeli occupation and the settlers are to the Muslims holy places and sites."

Several mosques had been set on fire over the past several months by Israeli settlers in various West Bank villages. In such cases, settlers usually painted graffiti on the walls calling for the death of Arabs and Muslims.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement that setting fire on a mosque and painting anti-Islam and anti-Arabs graffiti is "a big crime," adding that "these serious actions aim at devoting religious disputes and growing an atmosphere for a religious war."

"Such actions are clearly showing the fanaticism within the Israeli society is growing up," said the statement, which held the Israeli government fully responsible for the crime, and called on the world's intervention to pressure Israel to stop these actions.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Hussein, the Islamic Musfti (heads of Imams) of Jerusalem and the holy land, said in a statement that the Israeli authorities are on purpose of turning the Muslims holy places "as part of the Israeli right-wing elections campaign."

Hassan Khater, chairman of Jerusalem International Center (al-Quds), also said in a press statement that Israel's insistence to keep violating Palestinian mosques and other Islamic sites "shows Israel's carelessness towards the emotions of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world."

In Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, Islamic Hamas movement's spokesman, said in an emailed press statement that the action "represents an image of the Israeli terrorism that is practiced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on daily bases against the Palestinian people."

The Islamic Jihad in Gaza also condemned the action. The group said in an emailed press statement that "the Jewish terrorism never stopped targeting Muslims and their holy sites, lands, properties and presence in Palestine." Endit