MKs, rabbis rally against planned closure of West Bank synagogue

Some 200 rightists say government's decision to seal shul in El Matan but not mosque in nearby Palestinian village 'discriminatory.' MK Eldad: Selective enforcement of laws against Jews while ignoring Arab violations'

Yair Altman |Published: 10.04.10 , 19:57

Some 200 right-wing activists and settlers took part in a rally on Monday against the planned closure of a synagogue that was built illegally in the El Matan neighborhood in Ma'aleh Shomron.

During the rally, held at the Yitzhar Junction and organized by the Shomron Settlers' Committee, protestors called out against the decision to seal the synagogue while no measures have been taken against a mosque in the nearby Palestinian village of Burin. The rightists said the mosque was constructed in Area C, which is under full Israeli military and administrative control, without a permit.

A few hundred Palestinian held a demonstration a few hundred meters from where the rightist gathered. Security forces kept the peace, and there were no reports of violence.

"I am in favor of freedom of religion for Muslims and the construction of churches and mosques, but synagogue must be built in the Land of Israel first," Knesset Member Danny Danon (Likud) told the rally.

"It cannot be that there will be one law for Palestinians and another for Jews. I ask myself, if this is the situation at the onset of (Israeli-Palestinian) negotiations, what will be the dessert? I urge the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to intervene, because I have no expectations from the defense minister (Ehud Barak)."

MK Arieh Eldad (National Union) said the plan to seal the synagogue is an example of "selective enforcement of laws against Jews while ignoring Arab violations.

"This is just a symptom of a much greater problem, whereby thousands of homes are being built illegally in Palestinian territories, in contrast to the kibosh being put on the Jewish community," he said.

MK Michael Ben-Ari, also from the National Union party, called the government's policy in the West Bank's Jewish communities "racial discrimination and apartheid."

Yitzhar's rabbi, David Dudkevich wondered "how a Jewish state insists on sealing a synagogue under false pretenses, when that same state does not enforce the law at the Temple Mount, the most sacred Jewish site."

Shas lawmaker Nissim Zeev and Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh also spoke at the rally.