Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Jaffa (Agenzia Fides) - Attackers desecrated graves in an Arab Christian cemetery in Jaffa and the headstones were sprayed with Hebrew graffiti, apparently the incident took place probably in the night between Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June. Even the tyres of five vehicles parked nearby were slashed. The attackers had daubed "price tag" and revenge" at the site, formula with which since the early months of 2012 acts of vandalism have been "signed" against Christian and Muslim places of worship perpetrated by groups of extremist settlers in retaliation before the dismantling of illegal Jewish settlements.
In a statement, the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land - which includes the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Religious Affairs, as well as representatives and leaders of different religious communities - expressed outrage over the attack against the cemetery. Last Wednesday, the police officer Galit Ziv told a parliamentary committee that in 2012 they had opened 623 files on "price tag" incidents and arrested 200 people. The police - said Ziv – considered these acts ideologically-motivated "nationalistic crimes". (GV) (Agenzia Fides 14/06/2013).
