ITALY: Plans to build a mosque in an Italian town have brought the non-Muslims into conflict with the town's Muslim community

A church steeple dominates the small town of Colle di Val d'Elsa, home to a community of 14,000 residents, perched on a hilltop in the midst of the Italian Tuscan countryside. Famed for producing fifteen percent of the world's cut-glass crystal, it is also home to a small but vibrant muslim community that has found itself at odds with the town's non-Muslim population. Some 500 muslims have been resident for over 10 years in the town, which has become the hub for regional Muslim celebrations and festivities, all organised out of a small room in the Islamic Cultural Centre based in the town centre. For more than three years, work has been underway to finally build a mosque for the community, a structure of some 600 square metres that will provide a proper space for teaching and prayer open to all. Imam Feras Jabareen of the town's Muslim Cultural Centre has worked closely with the town's mayor in order to show transparency, not only concerning the building of the mosque, but also with the activities that will take place once it is finished. "This project began a number of years ago and for a number of years the Muslim community in this town has been carrying out initiatives in order to create dialogue and to create a peaceful coexistence and to integrate into the civil society in which we live," the Imam says "This Mosque will represent this culture in which we live as we try to show the right face of Islam, Islam which calls for peace, forgiveness, love and coexistence and brotherhood between all human beings," he adds. But as building work begins on what local residents call "common parkland," protests against its completion have gathered steam. Across the road from the building site some passing cars toot their horns in solidarity with a small group of protesters who have set up camp, determined to put a stop to the completion of the mosque. They say they have nothing against the local Muslim community but are angered by the use of parkland for the building of the structure. Signs litter the field by the side of the road and read: "The park is for everyone, the mosque is not" and "Yes to integration, no to occupation.' The protesters also say they are worried by a possible "invasion" from the outside by a much larger Muslim community that they know nothing about. "There is a fear about not knowing who will come to this mosque because unfortunately it is written in all the national newspapers that in many mosques they preach hatred and in many mosques activities are taught that are illegal in our country," said leader of the Committee Against the Muslim Centre, Letizia Franceschi. "I believe it is legitimate to have a fear about who may come here," Franceschi added. The town's mayor seems slightly exasperated by the on-going protests. He says he has taken all possible measures to make sure activities within the mosque will be monitored. The Muslim community leaders have signed Italy's only existing declaration of cooperation with the town hall, which has been sent to the Italian Interior Ministry, allowing for the monitoring of the mosque's activities by a group representing various sectors of the local community. He has so far shrugged off requests for a referendum on the issue, but does insist direct communication between the two groups is essential. "A wall (between the two communities) is the last thing we want," said Colle di Val d'Elsa's mayor Paolo Brogioni. "For this reason we need direct communication between our citizens who have an intention to organise cultural and religious events within the structure (on the one hand) and, (on the other,) those citizens who have always resided here and rightly want to know what will happen in their park and their social lives," he said. Despite the mayor's plea for mutual understanding, graffiti has begun appearing on homes near the mosque construction site. "The mosque is in your country," reads one. Italy is grappling, as are most European countries, to find the right formula for integration between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities, but mutual distrust continues to grow. The Italian government plans to introduce strict checks on the sources of foreign funds used to build mosques in the country, in an effort to pacify many who protest against their construction. The Imam of Colle di Val d'Elsa hopes these procedures will quickly ease tensions between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities, especially as the second generation of Muslims begins to grow up in Italy feeling more Italian than Arab. "Muslims have been living in Italy for several years but now we have the second generation (of Muslims), our children, who at home speak Italian more than they do Arabic, and feel like they are Italian," the Imam explained. "It is because of this that dialogue between Muslims and the state has become very important for coexistence and integration," he added. Certainly not everyone in the community is against the building of the mosque and it is highly unlikely that anything could be done to halt its completion, scheduled for the end of 2007. But the experience of the members of the Muslim community in Colle di Val d'Elsa, who say they have done everything to be as transparent as possible, is likely to occur in other regions throughout the country as Italy strives towards integrating the two communities.

ITN Source | January 16, 2007

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