At last! US State Dept. calls it for it is. Terrorism!

For so long now the West, and principally the US, has pussy-footed around declaring what is unquestionably Israeli terror meted out to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as "incidents" or words to that effect. It has invariably been described as "unfortunate" action by Israel or those bigoted, and bordering on mad, zealous settlers in the West Bank.

At last! The US State Department has stated that a bombing of a mosque in the West Bank - not for the first time it is to be noted - was an act of terrorism.

"For the first time, the U.S. State Department has cited violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank under the heading "terrorist incidents" in its annual Country Report on Terrorism.

The 2011 U.S. Country Report - which profiles terrorist activities around the world - cites seven "2011 terrorist incidents" in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Along with rocket attacks from Gaza, the report identifies three "price tag" incidents - a term which has come to describe, among other things, attacks against Palestinian property in revenge for violence against settlers. The report cites the 2011 vandalism of the Muslim Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem, an arson attack on a Jerusalem mosque in December, and another arson attack on a mosque in the village of Burqa in December.

The report also states that 10 mosques in the West Bank and Jerusalem were vandalized or set on fire in 2011, and that these attacks were believed by Israeli authorities to have been "perpetrated by settlers, up from six such incidents in 2010 and one in 2009."

The report, released July 31, states that GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi has referred to attacks against Palestinians and Palestinian property as terror."

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