6 Settler Rabbis Bring Qurans As Peace Offerings For Burned Down West Bank Mosque

Every major religion seems to have its hardline, extremist, fringe elements, some more than others but it's extremely important that we condemn them all, regardless of which religious denomination they belong to. Motivated by hate, they are major impediments to world peace, but they are the ones who control the end result. Muslims burn Churches, Hindus burn mosques as do Jewish settlers, and all this does is create further friction and disharmony and perpetuates the inter-religious cycle of violence.

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But at least there are some who try to make up for the misdeeds of those within their religious ranks, like the six Jewish settler rabbis who went to the West Bank mosque that was burned down and plastered with graffiti with a peace offering: a box of Qurans.

The rabbis included Menahem Froman and Aharon Lichtenstein, both left-leaning, were warmly greeted by several hundred Palestinians, including Abdul Fatah Hamayel, Bethlehem's governor and the mosque's Imam.

"We welcome the Jews to Beit Fajjar so they can see with their own eyes the crime that was committed in this mosque, which was against humanity and against religion," Hamayel told reporters.

"We welcome this delegation which is bringing a message of peace," he said.

The delegation spent some time visiting the destroyed mosque and speaking with local residents. Then in a gesture of solidarity Rabbi Froman and a Muslim cleric clasped hands and raised copies of the Quran. Froman said,

"My belief is in peace and in God," Froman told reporters.

"Those who act against peace act against God. God will defeat those who do things like this."

Both Palestinians and Israeli extremists have been doing things to impede the peace process, but the Israeli military are bent on finding those who were responsible for such a "grave and serious incident."

The Israeli government also condemned the attack in no uncertain terms:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak dubbed it a "terrorist" attack aimed at hurting the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians.

Frankly, with so many 'haters' on both sides, I don't think peace is a viable possibility in the Middle East. Until we can live side-by-side without fear and without hate of those who are different than us, the world will always be in conflict.