Resheq slams settlers’ arson attack on J’lem church

[ 31/10/2010 – 02:31 PM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)– Member of Hamas’s political bureau Ezzat Al-Resheq strongly denounced the Israeli settlers’ arson attack on one of the churches on Al-Anbiya street in occupied Jerusalem and appealed to the international community to save the Islamic and Christian holy shrines against what he described as racist crimes. Resheq said this attack was part of the systematic racist acts which Israeli settlers commit against the Palestinians and their holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories. He added that this attack clearly illustrated the true image of the Israeli occupation and the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Palestine. The church attack was also condemned by Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum who said that the mindset of the Israeli government and its settlers is racist and extremist, and does not respect heavenly religions or holy sites. Spokesman Barhoum said the Palestinian people, Christians and Muslims, are facing organized terrorism sponsored and supported by the Israeli government and such attack is part of its attempts to forcibly Judaize the Palestinian lands and holy sites. For its part, the Islamic-Christian commission for the support of Jerusalem and holy sites deplored the attack that led to the burning of the first floor of the church. In a statement on Saturday, the commission warned that all Christian and Islamic holy sites and religious figures are not safe as long as the occupation is still there. The arsonists, who were extremist Jewish settlers, forced their way at an early hour Friday into the back of the church, broke several windows and threw Molotov cocktails into the first floor. This was not the first time the church has been attacked and burnt.  In fact it was attacked and burned down in 1982 by a Jewish group and later rebuilt.

Resheq slams settlers’ arson attack on J’lem church.