Over a month after the mosque in Lubban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus was completely consumed by fire in the dead of the night, Palestinians held a festive inaugural ceremony on Friday for the reopening of the house of worship after it underwent reconstruction.
While the Israeli defense establishment has admitted that, contrary to the initial assessment, the fire was not caused but a short circuit, but was more likely the result of arson, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad holds both Israel and the settlers equally responsible for the act.
"The settlers will continue to destroy and to torch, and we will continue to build, we will not surrender and we will not give up on a single detail in the mission of building the institutions of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Fayyad declared at the event.
He, together with other ministers from his government, held Friday prayers at the site. During the service, Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habbash gave a sermon in which he said no distinction should be made between the assailants who torched the Lubban al-Sharqiya mosque and "those that did it in Yasuf village, in Iraq-Burin, or anywhere else. They are all terrorists."
He noted that "in the Quran, it is written that the most evil are those that violate houses of worship and mosques."
Fayyad himself told Ynet that Israel's initial denial that the incident was the result of arson "raises questions". He added, "For us, the greatest achievement is the short period of time that passed from when we took it upon ourselves to rebuild the mosque and the time it resumed full activity."
Lubban al-Sharqiya Council Head Jamal Daraghma said the cost of the renovation amounted to some 500,000 NIS (roughly $129,100). "It was all transferred from the Palestinian Authority's funds, and we hope to complete the construction of the minaret to raise it 10 more meters," he said.
[Source: Al-Manar TV]
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