In the village of Sharafat, south of Jerusalem, lies the al-Badriyah mosque, which was built hundreds of years ago. On Friday morning, 24 January 2020, at 4:15 A.M., the village head, Isma’il ‘Awad, came to the mosque to read verses from the Quran before prayers, as always. The sight that met his eyes was frightening.
The iron door hung open and inside were flames. ‘Awad tried to turn the light on but the power was out. Alarmed, he quickly called some friends from the village to help put out the fire. It was so early that they were still asleep, and no one picked up.
‘Awad peeked inside and saw the flames approaching the mosque’s library, which held ancient books. He tried to put them out before they reached the precious, flammable paper, but failed and drew back. He made another round of calls and woke three residents. While he waited for help to arrive, he used a prayer mat to stop the quickly spreading fire from reaching the imam’s podium.
Once the fire was extinguished, the extent of the damage became clear: the mosque was ruined. It was no longer fit for prayer. Now, the cleaning and restoring would begin.
Graffiti sprayed nearby revealed the arsonists’ identity: settlers who knew there would be no investigation, they would never be found, and would never be made to pay the price for destroying a place of worship.
Sharafat, 24 January 2020 – settlers torch village mosque.