Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque and sprayed graffiti in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian Authority said, the latest in a surge of increasingly brazen settler attacks against Palestinians.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said the settlers’ attack on the Hajja Hamida Mosque in Salfit, in the northern West Bank, was a “heinous crime and a blatant attack on Muslim sentiments.”
“As a result of the attacks, some mosques were set on fire by settler gangs and defaced with racist graffiti. With the frequency and nature of crimes systematically escalating, settler gangs continue to attack Islamic holy sites and national property on a daily basis,” the ministry statement said.
Images shared by the ministry showed inscriptions written in Hebrew on the outside of the mosque, including words such as “Muhammad is a pig” and “Do not fear Avi Bruce”, referring to Islam’s prophet. Bruce, the commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the West Bank, released a statement on Wednesday condemning the attacks on settlers and calling the perpetrators “anarchist frontier youth.”
Images showed parts of the interior damaged by the fire, and piles of charred rubble littered the ground. The walls were blackened by smoke and heat, and the windows were broken.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack in a statement, saying “the Israeli government bears full and direct responsibility for this crime and its consequences.”
In a statement to CNN, the IDF acknowledged the attack and said it sent troops to the scene to “investigate the incident and conduct scans,” and transferred the incident to the Israeli Police for further processing. “No suspects were identified,” the IDF said.
About 700,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories where Palestinians hope to build a future state. According to international law, Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal.
Attacks by settlers against Palestinians and their property have increased sharply this year, particularly during the olive harvest season from October to November. A United Nations report released last week found that Israeli settlers carried out at least 264 attacks in October, the most since the United Nations began tracking incidents in 2006. Repeated attacks have damaged this year’s olive harvest.
On Tuesday, dozens of Israeli settlers launched a massive arson attack on an agricultural area in the village of Beit Ridd in the northern West Bank, torching a new dairy factory and setting alight the vehicles and tents of a nearby Bedouin community.
Footage obtained by CNN showed settlers pouring gasoline on cars and trucks and then setting the vehicles on fire. Video showed a Palestinian woman crying as the area was filled with smoke and men rushed to put out the fire with fire extinguishers and water buckets.
CNN visited the scene of the attack to see charred vehicles and damage left around the Bedouin community.
Monjed al-Juneidi, an executive at Al-Juneidi Dairy and Food Company, said the scene was “indescribable”. He recalled that dozens of settlers climbed the factory fence from multiple directions.
“I think it was just a message to scare us, scare our employees… to try to force reality on the ground… (but) we will continue our business, they can’t stop us,” he said.
In the nearby Bedouin community of Deir Sharaf, at least four Palestinians were injured in the attack and required hospitalization, residents told CNN. The settlers reportedly beat them and killed four sheep.
Fifteen-year-old Nabil Duis was tending livestock when settlers rampaged through the area.
“It was terrifying, especially for women and children…I was defenseless against 100 of them…We need protection from the state,” he told CNN.
The Israeli Defense Forces said the settlers then attacked Israeli soldiers and damaged Israeli military vehicles.
Israeli police initially announced the arrest of four suspects who were questioned following what they called “extreme violence.” on site. However, by Wednesday evening, police announced they had released three of the suspects.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the attacks “confirm an increase in settler terrorism and crimes carried out with the direct support of the occupation government as part of a systematic and widespread policy aimed at undermining the rights of the Palestinian people.”
Palestinian officials called on international and Islamic organizations to take steps to ensure accountability.
