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Monday, September 01, 2008

Palestinian Arab police raid mosque. No one protests!

It turns out the PA police have a website which details many of the major and minor events of the day in the West Bank. One minor story from yesterday was interesting; here is the entire autotranslated article:
Hebron police and security agencies arrested 50 wanted for justice and control the inflammatory material inside the mosque

According to Public Relations and Information Department, the security agencies and police had arrested 50 people wanted for justice through a security campaign launched in the town of Surif governorate of Hebron.

The statement added that persons who were arrested were wanted on criminal cases, custody orders, and issues emanating from the prosecutor and the court,

He pointed out that the security forces attacked the nests of drugs and arms dealers and carried out searches of several houses searched by orders issued by the competent prosecutor, where one citizen was arrested for investigation after it was found at his home on the article 'marijuana'. The Information Office of Police found inflammatory material, in addition to the knives inside a mosque in the town. The police thanked the citizens for their cooperation with security organs to implement the law and establish security and order, stressing that by law will reach all the breakers, and the abusers and spoilers in the community.
There are two notable facts we see in this report.

Firstly, even though the Palestinian Arab press heavily covers Israel's arrests of people here and there in the West Bank (often referring to them as "abductions" or "kidnappings"), here a raid that nets 50 people has received very little coverage.

More importantly, in this case a mosque was clearly being used for illicit purposes, and it was properly raided - and it is regarded as a matter-of-fact daily incident, relegated to paragraph 3 of a minor article in a police bulletin. No agonizing over the sanctity of the mosque, no obligatory phrase that the PA police used the utmost sensitivity in this evil but necessary desecration - nothing. Instead, it is treated as if it is the most normal thing in the world that mosques would be used for criminal (or terrorist) activity and they will be raided by Arab police.

An event that would raise world headlines if Israeli forces do it is considered business as usual for Arabs.