JERUSALEM, Israeli authorities today notified to tear down the golden dome of a mosque in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, according to local sources.
Muhammad Alian, a community leader, said that the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem verbally notified him and other community leaders of its plan to demolish the golden mosque of the recently-renovated and expanded al-Rahman Mosque, built before Israel’s foundation in 1948.
He pointed that the municipality intends to remove the dome following a complaint lodged by settlers, who are displeased with it.
He urged Beit Safafa residents to defend the confront the move, which he slammed as part of Israel’s colonial racist policy.
Located some six kilometers to the southeast of Jerusalem, Beit Safafa is flanked by colonial settlements from all directions. Israel has seized hundreds of donums of its lands for the construction of settlements and settler-only pass-by roads, pushing the residents into a crowded enclave, a ghetto, surrounded by walls, settlements and military installations.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency