Gangs of Israeli Settlers in Hebron Set Ablaze a Mosque and Attack Fire Fighters

7 August 2007

Hebron – Ma'an – Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian mosque in the old city of Hebron on Tuesday morning and prevented the fire services from reaching the blaze.

Ma'an's correspondent reported that one fire fighter said "we heard the settlers taunting the Palestinians through the telephone when the people in the mosque made distress calls to us. The Palestinians also called for the Israeli soldiers to help to stop the attack on the mosque."

Sources from the fire services department in the old city told Ma'an that they received a telephone call from Israeli officials requesting that they go and extinguish the fire in the mosque.
A source from the fire services said "when we reached the area we were met by dozens of Israeli settlers who attacked us with stones and rocks."

The source added that the settlers prevented the Palestinian fire services from extinguishing the fire and that the Israeli soldiers refused to intervene to end the assault.

Eviction order

Fierce clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and settlers on Tuesday after the Israeli forces attempted to evict the settlers from shops in old vegetable market in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

The shops were occupied by the settlers six years ago.

Ma'an's correspondent reported that around a thousand Israeli soldiers and police attempted to break into the shops while the settlers were inside. The settlers retaliated by throwing stones and rocks, and throwing coloured dye and diesel on the soldiers.

The fighting resulted in the injury of a number of soldiers and settlers.

Two settler families, which seized the shops six years ago, are subject to an Israeli Supreme Court order for their eviction after an appeal made by Hebron municipality.

In recent days settlers have increased their attacks on the Palestinian citizens of Hebron.