Arabs against terrorism

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Feb. 9, 2003
Fury after bomb found stashed in Taiba mosque
DANIEL BEN-TAL
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The 40,000 residents of Taiba in the Triangle will celebrate this year's Id al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) with added poignancy, after an unexploded explosives belt was removed from the bathroom of the town's Khaled Ibn al-Walid Mosque early Friday morning.

The device which contained about 10 kilograms of explosives, and was apparently to have been used in an attack in the Sharon area was discovered by police sappers following the interrogation of two Islamic Jihad terrorists arrested at a roadblock between Nablus and Tulkarm on Thursday afternoon.

"This incident has changed reality in Taiba," Mayor Salah Jabara told The Jerusalem Post. "The town's residents are furious. There were 1,500 worshipers in the mosque on Friday night. Had the bomb exploded, the devastation would have been frightening."

"It is terrible that someone who calls himself a Muslim would leave a bomb inside a mosque. I utterly condemn such despicable behavior. These terrorists must be stopped," Jabara said
"A mosque is an open place like a synagogue.

People walk in to pray five times a day. Who would have thought that a mosque would be used for such dastardly purposes? I can assure you that there was absolutely no cooperation from Taiba residents. We are Israeli citizens.

"I call upon all the Palestinian factions not to drag us Israeli Arabs into this violent equation. We don't want to be a part of this story," he said.

Jabara praised the behavior of the hundreds of police, soldiers, and border police who surrounded the mosque and evacuated the immediate vicinity on Thursday night.

"The security forces' reaction to the incident was fair. They showed sensitivity to the holiness of the building, and endangered their lives by moving the device to a nearby quarry, where it was neutralized. I thank them," Jabara said.

"What happened on Thursday night brought the reality home to us," said 34-year-old gas station manager Azam Azzat. "People think that we Israeli Arabs are less susceptible to terrorism because we're not in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Yet we are double victims of the situation, in danger from two sides both militant Arabs and extremist Jews could threaten our lives. All we want to do is live in peace."

"It is wrong to use a mosque for purposes other than religious political or otherwise. I am totally against using violence as way of achieving political means," he said.

Haani Masarwah, 40, runs a greengrocery 30 meters from the mosque. "I am just glad that my six children were asleep and didn't see the streets full of soldiers. It would have been traumatic. This is no way to live," he said.

Hundreds of Palestinian laborers continue to cross the still-porous Green Line into the Triangle daily, according to local residents. "We can identify a West Bank Palestinian easily by the way he dresses and holds himself," said Ziyad Azam, 43. "We have become a lot more suspicious, even though most of them simply want to feed their families."

"Since Friday, we check everybody who enters the mosque," added Muhammad Masarwah, 57, a veteran worshiper at the mosque. "Just this morning, a stranger tried to enter with a bag he was told to leave it outside even though it only contained clothes. Nobody is taking risks any more. You cannot always tell who is a terrorist and who isn't."