Ramallah: Israeli right wing colonists set alight a historic mosque in occupied Jerusalem in yet another attack yesterday leaving graffiti spray paintings on the wall.
The Nabi Okashah Mosque on Strauss Street of the Mia't Shaa'reem quarter enjoys great value and the structure is believed to be the burial site of Prophet Mohammad's [PBUH] companion Okashah Bin Mohsin, sources in occupied East Jerusalem told Gulf News. Israel has banned Muslims from praying at the mosque as is it is located in a colonist neighbourhood. Israel however allowed the colonists to turn the mosque's garden into a children's play area.
The sources said the mosque has a dome called Al Qimriyah which has historical significance. The Arab residents of occupied East Jerusalem have repeatedly tried to renovate it and make the mosque operative, but their requests have always fallen on deaf ears.
The room of the call to prayers and other parts of the mosque were burnt by the time civil defence staff reached the site.
The sources claimed that the mosque was open when the arsonists set it on fire and that the facility is used during the day as a children's play area and at night as a place for drug users.
Increase in cases
The West Jerusalem Municipality sealed off the mosque and dispatched cleaning teams to wipe out the graffiti spray paintings.
The Israeli media quoted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat as saying that zero tolerance should be shown to any kind violence and that the concept of coexistence in the city must be kept at all costs.
Israeli security authorities have noticed a sharp increase in the number of arson attacks on Muslim holy sites. Israeli Police have assigned a team of International and Serious Crimes Unit to investigate them.
The colonist ‘Hilltop Youth' said in several official statements that at first they feared the investigative unit, but after many suspects were arrested in arson cases against Muslim holy sites only to be subsequently released, their fears subsided.
Warning
The Al Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage condemned the attack on the mosque, warning that the number of colonists' attacks against Muslim holy sties in occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and the 1948 areas has been on the rise lately.
In an official statement, the foundation said Israeli authorities had not allowed the Muslim foundations and organisations to renovate the mosque since the year 1948 despite repeated requests. The foundation announced that it holds the Israeli government, which imposes racist laws that encourage the colonists, fully responsible for the mosque's arson and all other attacks on sacred places. The foundation stressed that the Israeli government does not seriously act to arrest the arsonists and punish them for their crimes, which gives them a room to commit more and more crimes.
The foundation urged the Israeli judicial system to trace the attackers and punish them for their crimes, calling on the Arab and Muslim world to act in support of the Muslim holy sites in Palestine.
Treading cautiously
Israel reopened yesterday a wooden footbridge it had deemed unsafe at occupied Jerusalem's holiest and most volatile religious site, treading cautiously over deep political and religious divides.
The structure called Al Magharba gate was closed on Monday while Israel weighed plans that have stoked Arab anger to tear it down and build a sturdier bridge.
Any construction at the site can be politically explosive.
During Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as prime minister, his opening in 1996 of a new entrance to an access tunnel for tourists near the compound touched off Muslim protests and gun battles in which 60 Palestinians and 15 Israelis were killed.
