West Bank – Mayor Village Wants to End Jewish Pilgrimages after Graves Desecrated

West Bank – The mayor of a Palestinian village called for the end of pilgrimages by Jewish groups to a holy site in his village after the desecration of Muslim graves, as was reported here on Vos Iz Neias last week.

Ahmed Bouzia, mayor of Kifl Hares in the northern West Bank, said villagers discovered the desecration Friday morning after 1,300 Jewish pilgrims came there to pray with Israeli army protection the night before at the grave of Rabbi Yehoshua Bin Nun.

Nine tombstones were damaged, he said some broken and others bearing graffiti like "Death to Arabs."

Village feelings were further ruffled when Israeli soldiers returned early Sunday morning with pilgrimage organizers to fix the damaged graves and paint over graffiti. "This was desecration on top of desecration," Bouzia said, adding that Muslim graves can be repaired only by Muslims.

Bouzia warned that his villagers would confront future pilgrimages, and that this could cause serious friction between the residents and the settlers. [AP]