Israeli settlers set fire to West Bank mosques after deadly clash
Ali Sawafta and Muhammed Torokman
QUSRA, West Bank, July 26 (Reuters) – Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, setting fire to two mosques and graffitiing the buildings, Palestinian officials said.
The attacks followed Friday’s killing of four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers, one of whom was serving as a security coordinator in a nearby Israeli settlement, as a crowd of Israeli settlers, some armed, approached the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
During the incident, villagers came out of their homes to confront the settlers, and a confrontation broke out after video emerged showing one of the Palestinians grabbing a settler’s gun. Local Palestinian officials say settlers are inciting violence. The Israeli army said both sides fired.
The incident was the latest in a series of clashes involving settlers this year that have left dozens of Palestinians dead and hundreds injured, according to UN and Palestinian Authority figures.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an election in October, has ordered a major security operation against what he describes as terrorism against Israeli civilians, strengthening units in the West Bank and canceling permits.
Members of the government, including far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, called for the annexation of West Bank lands that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Palestinian officials said settlers launched a series of attacks on Palestinian villages in different parts of the West Bank in the early hours of the morning.
Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the village council in Qusra, southeast of Nablus, said settlers set fire to a newly completed mosque in his village early Sunday.
“The mosque was in its final stages and ready to receive worshipers. It was already equipped with sofas. They set it on fire and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on its walls,” he told Reuters by phone. The graffiti included messages including “Jewish revenge” and the name of one of the Israelis killed near Tal.
ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS SHOW THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY ILLEGAL
The Palestinian Authority, which bears responsibility for the part of the West Bank where Friday’s shootings took place, said the incident was part of a general attack on Palestinians.
“Israeli state-backed settler terrorism is turning into systematic pogroms in the occupied West Bank,” the Palestinian prime minister’s office said in a statement on social media platform X. he said.
The Israeli army said troops sent to Qusra, located near several major Israeli settlements, found graffiti and signs of arson and were searching for suspects. It was stated that police officers would be sent to collect evidence.
“Security forces strongly condemn such incidents, including damage to religious sites, and will continue to act decisively to maintain security and public order in the region,” the military said. he said.
An Israeli military official said such violence by the Israelis distracted the defense force from its core mission of defending and combating terrorism in a complex environment.
But the official said that over the weekend, soldiers arrested more than 130 people “including arms smugglers, Hamas terrorist operatives, individuals engaged in incitement, and terrorists planning imminent attacks.”
Palestinian officials said in separate incidents that settlers tried to burn down a mosque near Kour, southeast of the city of Tulkarm, and attacked Palestinian workers at a stone-cutting plant in the town of Kafr Malik, near Ramallah.
Kour village council member Farid Jyousi said three settlers tried to set fire to the mosque at dawn, but worshipers extinguished the fire before it reached the mosque’s main area.
“This is the first attack our village has experienced,” he said, adding that the attackers had also sprayed graffiti in Hebrew on the mosque walls.
As part of security measures implemented in the West Bank over the weekend, Israeli forces detained nearly 60 Palestinians as of Saturday night, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, which tracks Palestinians detained in Israel.
Most countries and United Nations bodies consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal, a view Israel denies.
Palestinians see the West Bank as the core of a future independent state. Israel speaks of biblical and historical ties to the land. The Netanyahu government, which opposes the Palestinian state, rapidly expanded the settlements there.
Pope Leo on Sunday said he was following the worsening violence with deep concern and called for negotiations to reach a “just political solution.” He also called for the rejection of actions that “violate the status quo and respect for the sacred sites of each religious faith.”
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta from Ramallah; Additional reporting by Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Peter Graff)
