Haaretz: Muslim cemetery in W. Bank desecrated by Jewish group

After visiting the Salfit region in Palestine, I remember the Ariel settlement being a sharp contrast to the Palestinian towns villages around it. Ariel has an unmistakable American suburban look which only highlights the Palestinian agricultural societies in the rest of the area.

The following piece was taken from Haaretz. It appears that the destruction in the cemetery will ultimately go unpunished as the organizers “promised to repair the damage next week.”

One can’t help but envision an insincere parent wagging his finger at a knowing, and smirking, child.

Muslim cemetery in W. Bank desecrated by Jewish group

by: Amos Harel

A Muslim graveyard in a village near the West Bank settlement of Ariel was desecrated by a group of Jewish worshippers visiting the area on Friday morning.

A group of some 1,300 Jews visited the tomb of Joshua Ben Nun Thursday night in full coordination with the Israel Defense Forces.

On Friday morning, after the Jewish worshippers had left, Palestinians reported to Leftist groups that several tombstones in the local Muslim graveyard had been vandalized. Some were smashed; others were sprayed with slogans reading “death to Arabs.”

The Civil Administration filed a police complaint.

IDF representatives met with the organizers of the excursion, who promised to repair the damages next week.

And from the Jewish news service, JTA:

Jewish supplicants deface Palestinian graves

Jewish supplicants damaged headstones in a Palestinian cemetery.

A number of worshippers broke off from a group of 1,300 praying Friday at the tomb of Joshua in Kifel Hares, near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, and entered an adjacent Palestinian cemetery. Yediot Achronot quoted local Palestinians as saying that the raiders smashed some tombstones and defaced others with slogans, including “Death to the Arabs!”

Yediot confirmed the account with the army, which had secured the Friday pilgrimage to the biblical figure’s reputed burial place. While noting that most of the supplicants behaved well, an army statement said: “To our regret, a number of supplicants chose to create a provocation and damage Palestinian tombstones.”

The army statement said it had taken up the matter with leaders of the pilgrimage, who promised to return next week and repair the damage.