Military Advocate General Brigadier-General Avi Mandelblit has instructed Military Police to launch an investigation into the desecration of Palestinian tombstones at the West Bank village of Awarta on Tuesday.
Palestinians claimed that Jewish worshippers on a pilgrimage to the tombs of the righteous, who they say were escorted by IDF troops, vandalized three graves located on the outskirts of Awarta. The complaint was filed by human rights organization B'Tselem.
Shattered tombstone in Awarta (Photo courtesy of B'Tselem)
Awarta resident Umm Faisel Zakach said her husband's tombstone was shattered, adding that empty plastic bottles and rubbish were found near the grave.
"This is the seventh or eighth time that this has happened; each time the settlers come to pray, we discover this sort of damage," she said.
Apart from the shattered tombstones, the vandals also left behind ant-Arab graffiti written in Hebrew, English and Russian. One of the slogans included an abbreviation for one of the IDF's infantry companies.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Thursday that the slogans were scribbled outside the cemetery, but added that the army "condemns any act of vandalism".
Military Police will also look into the possibility that the graves were desecrated by IDF soldiers rather than Jewish settlers.