Resident of the village of Zilfa in the Nachal I’ron (Wadi Ara) area of northern Israel are angry. They accuse border police of entering an area mosque without permission during the night. The incident occurred last week.

According to the report, a resident of the village, which is north of Nachal I’ron, saw suspicious persons in the area of the Alfarouk Mosque, after midnight. The village is responsible for the mosque, MyNet reports, adding when they checked the security cameras they were shocked to learn the intruders were border policemen who entered the mosque without permission along with Yassam officers in plain clothes.

The mosque is situated west of the village, and like the other mosques in the area, it is locked at night, opening again at 04:00 in the morning. They explain the video shows the security forces, both in uniform and plain clothes, are walking around the mosque with guns drawn as if they were searching for something. They explain what makes things worse if the force contained women too and none of them removed their shoes as required. The persons responsible for the mosque are quoted explaining the severity of the violation is compounded by the fact the persons did not enter to pray and they are not Muslims.

When word of the incident got out, village officials stated the violation to the mosque mustn’t pass as the behavior of the officers involved in unacceptable and demands a response.

Attorney Mustafa Mahamid of the NGO Monitor organization http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ sent a letter of complaint to Israel Police in which he cited the severity of the violation to the mosque and the lack of awareness of those responsible to the religious sensitivities of the community. Mahamid also questioned why security forces entered the mosque.

Village officials report that since the incident, police officials have not contacted them and there has been no apology, which they insist is in order.

When asked to respond police released the following statement: As part of an operation to apprehend PA (Palestinian Authority) residents inside Green Line Israel illegally, a number of suspects were seen fleeing to the mosque. Since some of the illegals are involved in attacks, there was a need to enter the mosque in a respectful fashion during that operation.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)