Violation: Setting fire on Hasan Khader Mosque in Yasuf to the north of Salfit.

Date: 4:00 AM on December 11, 2009.

Victims: Yasuf residents.

Violators: Tapuh Colony colonists.

 

 

Details:

At 4:00 AM in the morning of Friday December 11, 2009, the village of Yasuf was once again a target for the nonstop Israeli aggressions. This time the attack was inside the village. More precisely, it was against Hasan Khader Mosque located in the center of the village. The Mosque, which is one of a few worshipping places in the village was also used by people from nearby villages. Colonists from Tapuh sneaked in before the dawn prayers (Al Fajr). They broke the Mosque main door, poured some inflammable material on the floor, and deliberately set the place on fire causing terrible damage to the carpets, the walls, and most importantly, the Mosques library which contained many versions of the Holy Qur'an alongside some religious books. It was obvious that the colonists aimed to burn the library since it was the starting point of the fire.

 

 

Picture 1+2: the hatred effect on the Qur'an and other religious books.

 

In addition, colonists wrote in Hebrew on the walls of the mosque statements like 'we will burn you all' and 'avenging Efi's flames'.

 

Picture 3: the statements written by colonists.

 

Yasuf Village Council President stated: ' the crime of burning a mosque, a religious symbol, proves the brutality of the Israeli colonists supported by Netenyahu’s Government and its Army. The colonists tend to make the lives of the villagers unbearable. It's not a coincidence that the attack happened hours after an official spokesman of the Israeli Occupation Government declared that millions of dollars will be given as donations to colonists'.

 

 

It must be pointed that the colonists' attacks within the Palestinian villages has increased lately, especially before sunrise; On December 4, 2009, a group of colonists from the colony of Yizhar attacked a house in 'Einabus, burning down several hay bales, two tractors, and 3 cars, causing an estimated loss of about 70000 JD. This is a dangerous incident since the colonists are moving their attacks towards the hearts of the Palestinian villages. That is beside the daily attacks on the surrounding fields.

 

 

Kfar Tapuh colony:

The colony was built on Yasuf lands in 1982. It overlooks Z'atara crossroad which is the only connection between southern and northern West bank. The residents of the colony are mostly Jewish extremists who follow the Kabbi 'Mae'er Kahana' who used to call for cleansing 'the Jewish state' from the Palestinians before being murdered in the USA in the early 1990’s.

 

The total area of the colony is about 233 dunums. It includes an Israeli Occupation Army encampment in addition to a residential area.

 

In addition, two outposts were established since the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000. They are:

• Rahalim, located to the south of Yasuf.

• The New Tapuh, located to the east of the village.

Both outposts took over more than 100 dunums of Palestinians lands.

 

The locals suffering:

Residents of Yasuf suffer from continuous aggressions including:

1.     Movement restrictions made by closing many agricultural roads using earth mounds.

2.     Uprooting of more than a 1000 trees that used to stand around the colony for the sake of building a wall around it.

3.     Setting large numbers of wild boars free in the area causing catastrophic damage to the farms, orchards, and yields.

4.     Dumping sewage water in the surroundings of the village causing the spread of diseases and the corruption of many agricultural lands.

5.     The continuous expropriating of lands and turning them into military zones, mostly as a prelude to adding the land to the nearby colonies.

 

Overview of Yasuf:

Yasuf is located 16 km to the south of Nablus city. It is surrounded by the Palestinian villages of Eskaka, Jamma'in, Yatma, As Sawiya, Huwwara, and Marda. It is 6 km away from Salfit city and falls under Salfit Governorate jurisdiction.

 

Population:

Yasuf is currently populated by around 1621 people. There are different clans in the village including 'Ebayya, 'Abdul Fattah, Yasin, Mesleh, 'Abdul Razeq, 'Azzam, Husein, Ayyub, and Hamouda.

 

The total area of the village is 8550 dunums including 1000 dunum of built up area. Around 300 dunums are under the surrounding colonies control including Tapuh (200 dunums) and the outposts (100 dunums).

 

 

 

 Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC