Esat Firat
28 January 2021•Update: 28 January 2021
JERUSALEM
Palestine’s acting minister of religious affairs condemned Israel's demolition of a mosque Wednesday in the occupied West Bank.
“This is a crime and a blatant attack on Muslims' feelings,” Hussam Abu al-Rub said in a statement, according to the official Wafa news agency.
Al-Rub also called on the Arab and Islamic world to intervene to stop Israel’s attacks.
Using bulldozers, Israeli forces razed the mosque, which was under construction in the town of Umm Qusah south of Hebron, and several structures in the West Bank.
Israeli forces also bulldozed a livestock structure in Khamis al-Jahalin east of Jerusalem, said an eyewitness. Two other livestock facilities were also demolished in the Bir al-Maskoub community in east Jerusalem.
Palestinians say all of the demolished structures were located in Area C.
Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was divided into three portions -- Area A, B and C.
Israel prevents Palestinians from carrying out construction projects in parts of the West Bank designated as Area C under the agreement, which falls under Israel’s administrative and security control.
Area C is currently home to 300,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are Bedouins and herding communities who predominantly live in tents, caravans and caves.
International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
