Muslim graves in West Jerusalem vandalized

Extremists believed to be Jewish Thursday desecrated Muslim graves in a cemetery in West Jerusalem, according to an Israeli police statement. It said slogans such as death to Arabs, Muhammad is dead, Kahana lives, and price tag as well as the Star of David were sprayed on the graves in the Mammilla cemetery, where Israel is building a museum on the premises of the graveyard. Police was investigating the incident, said the statement. Witnesses said the extremists wrote racist slogans on the tombstones of nearly 30 graves, notably “price tag,” which is a slogan often used by Jewish fanatics and settlers who vandalize Arab property, whether it was Muslim or Christian, in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank. Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage condemned in a statement what it described as “hideous crimes” committed against Muslim graves and held the Israeli government responsible for them. M.S.