Dear friends,
Perhaps you have read in recent days about the decision of the Israeli government to build more houses in settlements throughout the West Bank as a response to the Palestinian appeal to the UN. But most probably you have not heard (and probably will not hear in the media) about the actions of the occupation authorities that early today demolished a mosque in the cave-dwellers village of Mufaqra. The police, representatives of the civil administration and soldiers of the IDF (read: Israeli Demolition Forces) arrived at the village at sunrise, closed down the area surrounding the mosque and used two bulldozers to demolish the building. It is worthwhile mentioning that the mosque that was demolished today was built on the ruins of a former mosque that was destroyed roughly a year ago.
As soon as the information reached us we called Fadel, a friend from Mufaqra who described the fear among the people of the village and especially among the kids that were on their way to school when the demolition occurred. Fadel told us that he asked one of the army officers why do they demolish the mosque and the response was: “today we demolish the mosque but as soon as we get the court order we will demolish your house as well.”
Below is a picture of the mosque that we took a few weeks ago and photos that were taken today by activists from Operation Dove during the demolition.
We will visit the people of Mufaqra later this week and hope to communicate to you more information and impressions from the field.
On behalf of the other members of the Villages Group,
Ophir Münz-Manor
The Villages Group: Cooperation in Israel-Palestine 
Comments
I do not understand how Israeli Jews and I fully realize that we Jews are not a holy people without actually trying to get to that level, can bear themselves and live normally doing what they do inside the Occupied Territories. Who in his right mind and with a neshamah says something like this at all and then to a child? Why do I always see and hear IDF soldiers behaving like beasts? They are tomorrow’s society. No wonder the Israeli public does not care or pretends not to know (Ich habe es nicht gewusst): they are the perpetrators themselves.
I have no solution for this other than to pray and support the Israeli human rights organizations. That after the always referred to shoah we have come to this. I cannot comprehend.
In the US there is much concern, even from the days of the Vietnam war, about what to do with the returning soldiers. The current phrase is “post-traumatic stress syndrome”. I think the real problem, psychologically and politically, is guilt for having participated in a racist war.
If Abigail is saying that the definition of holiness is to know you’re not holy, that sounds pretty good to me.
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[…] Demolition in Mufaqra Perhaps you have read in recent days about the decision of the Israeli government to build more houses in settlements throughout the West Bank as a response to the Palestinian appeal to the UN. But most probably you have not heard (and probably will not hear in the media) about the actions of the occupation authorities that early today demolished a mosque in the cave-dwellers village of Mufaqra. The police, representatives of the civil administration and soldiers of the IDF (read: Israeli Demolition Forces) arrived at the village at sunrise, closed down the area surrounding the mosque and used two bulldozers to demolish the building. It is worthwhile mentioning that the mosque that was demolished today was built on the ruins of a former mosque that was destroyed roughly a year ago. As soon as the information reached us we called Fadel, a friend from Mufaqra who described the fear among the people of the village and especially among the kids that were on their way to school when the demolition occurred. Fadel told us that he asked one of the army officers why do they demolish the mosque and the response was: “today we demolish the mosque but as soon as we get the court order we will demolish your house as well.” Below is a picture of the mosque that we took a few weeks ago and photos that were taken today by activists from Operation Dove during the demolition. We will visit the people of Mufaqra later this week and hope to communicate to you more information and impressions from the field. link to villagesgroup.wordpress.com Land Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing / Restriction of Movement / Apartheid & Occupation […]