All Palestinian citizens of Kifl Hares, including women and children, jolted out of their beds in remarkable terror as a horde of Israeli settlers, backed by large numbers of Israeli occupation forces (IOF), invaded the village last Friday at a late night hour and performed provocative rites in such a frighteningly frenzied and hysterical manner.
IOF were heavily deployed in the village’s streets, where fanatical shouts and offensive slogans, aiming at insulting Arabs, have been heard.
Shrines in Kifl Hares have always been permanent target of settlers’ Judaization schemes, despite their undeniably pure Islamic origin.
Kifl Hares mayor Issam Abou Yaakoub told PIC reporter: “Such Islamic shrines are 100% Islamic and our ancestors and offspring have been performing prayers here for years. The fact that each shrine has an Islamic niche (Mihrab) heading towards the Qibla direction undermines all Israeli made-up stories and histories.”
Israeli settlers have been frequently invading our village under the religious pretext, Kifl Hares natives told the PIC correspondent.
According to the Palestinian citizen Ali Mohamad Bouzaya, “Israeli extremist settlers have carried out several abrupt break-ins to the village. Not only do they climb over my house walls adjacent to the shrine and hold their alleged ceremonies, but they also dare smash whatever comes in their way.”
“What on earth is religious about such misdemeanors? Can anyone here, or anywhere else in the world, tell me what is religious about knocking our door bells at late night hours and kicking our house gates with boots just to frighten our children and women? How could anyone dare commit such felonies under the religious pretext!” Bouzaya wonders.
More than four thousand dunums have been confiscated by IOF in Kifl Hares in favor of a main road. Gangs of extremist settlers, estimated at around 20 thousand on certain nights, invade the town around 25 times a year under IOF protection with unjustifiable curfews imposed from 9 pm to 5 am.
According to Abu Yaakooub, such barbarian attacks frequently conducted against Palestinian holy sites have no connection, whatsoever, to religion. “Theirs is just faithless!” Abu Yakoub declares.
“We’ve been working day and night to restore the shrines and prove to everybody their inherently Islamic essence. We call for PA’s support to repair the infrastructure of our holy shrines and village in order to support the steadfastness of its inhabitants.”
Abd Al-Kaher Zaher Shakour, a Palestinian citizen, called on the international community and human rights organizations, nationwide and overseas, to react so as to immediately bring such military-backed settler violations to a halt, adding that citizens’ lives are in constant danger due to such practices.