The “Awqafna” Committee for the Care of Endowments and Sacred Sites, a subcommittee of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens, through the Mezan Human Rights Foundation in Nazareth, has sent a letter to the Be’er Ya’akov Municipality urging them to halt the resumption of excavation and construction work on the land of the Islamic cemetery in the depopulated village of Sarfand al-Amar, in the Ramla district.

Earlier, during excavation and construction work near the “Sarfand al-Amar” cemetery, graves and human remains were uncovered. Following this, a representative from the “Awqafna” Committee reached an agreement with the relevant authorities to stop the excavation and construction work at the cemetery site.

The letter from Mezan emphasized that the “Awqafna” Committee was informed that the Be’er Ya’akov Municipality planned to resume excavation and construction work at the cemetery, thereby disregarding all previous agreements that mandated halting work at the site. The letter stressed that this constitutes a blatant violation of the sanctity of the deceased and a disrespect to the religious feelings of Muslims in the country.

Mezan called on the Be’er Ya’akov Municipality to convene an urgent meeting with the “Awqafna” Committee to discuss the situation at the “Sarfand al-Amar” cemetery, in order to ensure that the sanctity of the deceased is respected and that no further excavation or construction work takes place at the site.