WASHINGTON: The US State Department Tuesday condemned the burning of a Palestinian mosque in the West Bank. “We condemn this attack in the strongest terms and call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. Vandals spray-painted and torched a mosque in the southern West Bank early Monday in an attack Palestinian witnesses and officials blamed on Israeli settlers. Meanwhile, six settler rabbis Tuesday delivered a box of Qur'ans to a West Bank mosque which had been torched by vandals, in an unusual peace gesture welcomed by Palestinians. The delegation was led by Rabbi Menahem Froman, a founder of Eretz Shalom (Land of Peace), a small group of West Bank settlers who have reached out to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to pursue peaceful coexistence. They brought around a dozen copies of the Qur'an on a solidarity visit to the mosque in Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem the day after unidentified vandals spray-painted Hebrew insults on its walls and set it alight. Several hundred Palestinians cheered as the rabbis arrived in two armored Land Rovers accompanied by Israeli soldiers. They were met by the mosque's Imam and Bethlehem governor Abdul Fatah Hamayel, who gave them a tour of the damaged mosque and showed them the remains of several Qur'ans which were burnt in the blaze. “We welcome the Jews to Beit Fajjar so they can see with their own eyes the crime that was committed in this mosque, which was against humanity and against religion,” Hamayel told reporters. “We welcome this delegation which is bringing a message of peace,” he said. After talking with residents and examining the damage, Froman, who comes from the nearby Tekoa settlement, held hands with a Muslim cleric as they both raised copies of the Qur'an in the air. “My belief is in peace and in God,” the white-bearded rabbi told reporters. “Those who act against peace act against God. God will defeat those who do things like this.” Palestinians at the event expressed a similar sentiment. “We are all from the same family and we must live as good neighbours,” said Abed Farajallah, a Palestinian from the southern West Bank town of Idhna. The attack came at a tense time, with peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians on hold over Israel's resumption of settlement building in the occupied West Bank. Defense Minister Ehud Barak dubbed the arson a “terrorist” attack aimed at hurting the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians.
