A library photo of one of Islamic tomb inside what is now Israel

By Samer Khuwayera, IOL Correspondent 

NABLUS, April 24 (IslamOnline.net) – Israel is planning to obliterate the Islamic and Arab character of Palestinian villages occupied in 1948 by marking out mosques, tombs and historical sites, a Palestinian organization warned on Friday, April 23.

Called ‘Tamam-6’, the Israeli scheme will see new parks, bridges, roads and sewerage system running deep into many Islamic and Arab historical sites, Al-Aqsa Society for the Reconstruction of Islamic Shrines (ASRIS) said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnline.net.

"A scrutinized study by AARIS engineers concluded that the plan poses serious threats to the future of the Islamic waqfs (endowments) and will do away with the Islamic and Arab character of the occupied villages to which we cannot stand arms-folded," it warned.

The engineers are concerned that the scheme will rob the Palestinians, in what is now Israel, of their rights once and for all.

It is a new manifestation of "religious persecution and racial discrimination against the [Islamic] holy shrines," the statement said.

Ghettos

Sheikh Hashem Abdul Rahman, the spokesman for the Islamic Movement in the town of Umm Al-Fahm, said the Israeli plan will turn the occupied Palestinian villages into "underdeveloped ghettos".

"The plan doesn’t respect the [Islamic] holy shrines or put into consideration the future establishment of vital facilities like universities and hospitals," for the town population, he added.

Abdul Rahma said Umm Al-Fahm municipality has lodged many complaints against the plan with the Israeli interior ministry, all falling on deaf ears.

The plan was put forward by the ministry’s construction and planning committee few months ago.

The long-term project, due to completed by 2020, is reshaping the geographic position of the occupied Palestinian villages stretching from the northern city of Akka to Qisariya off the Mediterranean Sea.