The graffiti read, "Mohammed is a Pig"
As we have witnessed in the past few weeks, its depressingly obvious what the reaction was bound to be. Support for Hamas has been growing over the past few years in this small town, and it should be a surprise to no one that a full scale riot ensued.
It's important to note that graffiti on mosques is not something blasphemous in and of itself -- I took these pictures of Hamas graffiti on the wall of the other mosque in Nabi Alias. Scary stuff.
As anger was directed towards Israeli civilian vehicular traffic, rocks were thrown at Israeli cars, tires were burned in the streets, and the IDF and Civil Authority officers came to the village to calm things down. High ranking IDF officers personally cleaned the graffiti off the wall, and it took till the rest of the day for the rage to subside.
Along the road, 5 people were hurt by rocks, many cars were damaged, 3 Palestinians were shot in the legs by the IDF, and it was a rather crazy day for everyone.
What honestly surprised me was, "who did this?" This particular area of the Shomron is rather calmer then the "Gav HaHar" section of the Shomron, and it seemed very out of character that someone would vandalize a mosque this way. I could imagine a particularly hot headed settler doing this near Chawara, but not so much in Nabi Alias.
Which got me thinking; what was the outcome of this graffiti?
1. Outraged Palestinians stoned cars, people were hurt, anger vented at IDF
2. IDF upset at alleged settler who did this.
3. IDF cleans off the mosque. (Though the PA never cleaned off Kever Yosef after it was destroyed, or even bothered defending the shuls in Gush Katif)
4. Israel sees that crazy alleged settlers attempted to inflame Arab hatred.
Who stood to lose the most? The settlers.
Who stood to gain the most? Those who want to portray the settlers as bad.
Before you say, "stop with the stupid conspiracy theories" -- just ponder this one thought.
The Shomron settler communities adjacent to Nabi Alias are relatively quiet and don't do this sort of thing. They are ALSO not included in Kadima's plan to remain under Israel's control (read: Future Victims of the Planned Disengagements). So, when you want to convince Israelis that these are the "bad" settlers who need to be evicted, what could be more convenient?
Food for thought...that's it.
Oh, and if anyone has connections to the CIA, next door to the mosque is a curious sign advertising Osama's garage. (also in Nabi Alias)
There. I've outted Osama.
All you need to do is contact the CIA and collect your reward.
Give me whatever percentage you feel like.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
