Early this morning, several people thought to be radical Jewish settlers the entered the small Palestinian village of Jabaa, located equidistant between Jerusalem and Ramallah. The intruders broke broke a large window in the village’s new Grand Mosque and set the interior ablaze. The slogan “Ulpana war” was found painted on the right side of the broken window and “price tag” on its left.
Arson, Grand Mosque of Jabaa, 6-19-2012
Another Mosque Torched, Radical Jewish Settlers Thought To Blame
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Early this morning, several people thought to be radical Jewish settlers the entered the small Palestinian village of Jabaa, located equidistant between Jerusalem and Ramallah. The intruders broke broke a large window in the village’s new Grand Mosque and set the interior ablaze. The slogan “Ulpana war” was found painted on the right side of the broken window and “price tag” on its left, the New York Times reported.
Village residents reportedly saw light inside the mosque, which was locked, about 1:30 a.m. They broke through the gate and put out the fire, which burned several yards of carpet and a wall, saving the mosque from more severe damage.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the New York Times the police arrived at the scene at 6 a.m. No explanation was given to the time lag.
Police say this was the fourth mosque attack in the last year-and-a-half. All are believed to be “price-tag” attacks carried out by radical Jewish settlers in protest of planned government evacuations of illegal settler outposts.
"Apart from the moral failing, this type of event presents real danger to the security enjoyed by the settlers,” an Army source told Ynet.
Last week, the tires of four cars owned by Arab residents of East Jerusalem residents that were parked near the Shuafat neighborhood/refugee camp in East Jerusalem were reportedly punctured. “Ulpana,” the name of an illegal settler outpost scheduled for evacuation, was painted on one of the cars.
Days before that, 14 cars in the integrated Jewish-Arab community of Neve Shalom had their tires punctured. "Death to Arabs,” “Revenge,” and "Regards from Ulpana" were spray-painted on three of them and “Regards from Havat Gilad, revenge" was spray painted on an elementary school.
Former Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz reportedly told Army Radio that the government had not done enough to stop the string of “price tag” attacks over the past years, which also include burning Palestinian crops, cutting down ancient olive trees owned by Palestinians, attacking Palestinian homes in the middle of the night, attacking Army bases and vandalizing Army equipment, and a slew of lesser attacks.
“If we wanted, we could catch them and when we want to, we will,” Halutz said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack as “the work of intolerant, irresponsible lawbreakers.”
“We will act quickly in order to bring them to justice,” Netanyahu reportedly said.
Netanyahu’s right wing, pro-settlement government has made no significant arrests in these attacks since it came to power more than years ago.