Worshippers who arrived early Wednesday morning for prayer at the mosque discovered three slanderous messages sprayed on the mosque’s walls. The slogans read: “There will be a war over Judea and Samaria (West Bank),” “price tag” and “this structure is destined for demolition.” The graffiti also included Stars of David signs.
Locals suspect residents of the nearby Jewish community of Rechasim were behind the act.
Israeli media sources said the police have launched an investigation, but no one has been arrested.
Radical Jewish occupiers have carried out several attacks on Palestinian properties in several West Bank locations as part of their “price tag” policy following the Israeli government’s decision to freeze constriction in settlements for 10 months.
In the village of Hewara near Nablus, three Palestinian vehicles were torched and graffiti was sprayed on a mosque. A fire was set to two Palestinian vehicles in the village of Jainsafout, east of Qalqilyah, and the word “price tag” and a Star of David were sprayed on the walls of a building in the village. Last December, a mosque was set on fire in Yasouf village and the word “price tag” was also sprayed on it
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, condemned the attack saying “it may ignite religious war in the region.” “The incident is part of a series of Israeli occupation and settler attacks against the Palestinian people and their holy sites,” Hussein told Arab News. He added that the “Israeli crimes” against the mosques is “clear proof of how Israeli occupation authorities disdain Islamic holy shrines.”
