Israeli occupation forces demolish al-Mafqara Mosque today

Israeli-occupation forces have demolished this morning the "al-Mafqara" Mosque in east Yitta town in southern Hebron for the second time consecutively in two years. The coordinator of Palestinian anti-wall, anti-colonial settlements' Resistance committee, Ratib al-Jibbour, said that Israeli occupation forces stormed into the area and demolished the 120-square meter mosque. The mosque comprises two floors. Villagers wanted to use one floor as a school for their children. Al-Jibbour said that occupation forces stormed into the village at the early hours of dawn today accompanied with bulldozers and heavy duty machinery, completely blocked the mosque, expelled Palestinian citizens, and began demolition thereof. Palestinian villagers insist on reconstruction of their mosque, asserting that the land belongs to them as per property title deeds, pointing out that Israeli occupation forces have tried to expel them in order to expand two nearby Jewish settlements by encroaching upon Palestinian territories east of Yitta. On the other hand, chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, Sheikh Yusuf Edaiss, said that demolishing the al-Mafqara mosque constitutes a dangerous breach of the freedom of worshipping which is guaranteed in all heavenly religions, and also constitutes a blatant violation of human rights and international conventions as well as all divine commandments which sanctify places of worship. Sheikh Yusuf Edaiss described the demolition of the same mosque twice in two years as a dangerous indicator of malicious Israeli intentions and racist policies which targeted even places of worshipping and mosques. He said that Palestinian citizens have the right and persistence to stay on the land they inherited from their progenitors. He also urged the international community to bear its responsibility towards violations committed by Israeli occupation against Islamic sanctities particularly the holy al-Aqsa Mosque, the Hebron Shrine and all Palestinian mosques and urged saving them from erasing their Islamic identity and replacing it with Jewishness under the arrogant Israeli occupation.