Jewish extremists suspected of attack on mosque

One more effort for Israel's hope for peace with Palestine? BBB

October 3, 2011
Jewish extremists suspected of attack on mosque
By Edmund Sanders | McClatchy-Tribune News Service

JERUSALEM — Jewish extremists are suspected of torching a mosque in a northern Israeli town on Monday, the latest in a string of anti-Arab attacks that have enraged Palestinians and alarmed Israeli security officials.

After setting the mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangariya on fire, vandals spray-painted the words "revenge" and "price tag" on the walls.

Similar messages have been left in other violent incidents in the West Bank, where attackers have burned mosques, cars belonging to Palestinians and olive trees. They've also vandalized an Israeli army base and the Jerusalem home of an Israeli anti-settlement activist.

Extremist groups say such attacks are in retaliation for efforts to dismantle Jewish settlements that Israel has deemed to be illegally built, or for incidents of Palestinian violence against settlers. Last month two Israelis were killed in a car accident that police say was caused by rocks thrown at their vehicle.

The increase in settler attacks has also been linked to the Palestinians' campaign at the United Nations to become a full-member state.

Palestinian and Israeli officials have condemned the attacks as acts of terrorism. Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency warned recently that those responsible are escalating their activity and evolving from small vigilante squads into organized terror cells.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to catch the vandals. "The images are shocking and have no place in the State of Israel," he said in a statement. Police said they had arrested some suspects, but gave no details.

Residents of Tuba-Zangariya protested the attack, and scores of youths clashed briefly with Israeli police, who had been deployed to prevent Arab Israelis from confronting residents of nearby Jewish towns.

Arab leaders said they suspect the attack was inspired by statements from rabbis in the nearby ultra-Orthodox town of Safed, where religious leaders have been accused of inciting violence and encouraging discrimination against Arabs, who make ups about 20 percent of Israel's population. Most recently, Safed rabbis urged Jews not to rent property to Arabs.

Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu told Israel Radio that the attack was "inappropriate" but would not condemn it and said it has not been proven that Jewish extremists were responsible.

Arab Israeli lawmaker Ahmed Tibi blamed the government for failing to stem the violence when it began several weeks ago in the West Bank.

"Failure to stop such a cancerous growth in the occupied territories results in it spreading into Israel," he said on Israel Radio.

Edmund Sanders writes for the Los Angeles Times.

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