Ramallah, January 27: Israeli forces have told Palestinians in a West Bank village to stop construction of a mosque there on Tuesday. The villagers of Bourin, west of Nablus, were building what would have been the Salman Al-Farisi mosque.
Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said that Israeli forces had warned contractors the building would be demolished as it was being constructed in an area under Israel’s full control.
According to the Oslo Agreement, there are three designated areas in the West Bank under the varying controls of Palestine and Israel.
Area A is under Palestinian administrative and security control, Area B under Palestinian administrative control but controlled by Israeli security forces, while Area C is under full Israeli control. However, Israel made a bid to control all three areas after its large-scale military operation “Defensive Shield” in 2002.
Daghlas added construction of the mosque began last year and was in its final stages.
He said that the Israeli forces had also handed a warrant to Palestinian businessman Hisham Al-Najjar ordering him to stop construction of his stores, which are also located in Area C.
——Agencies