Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank yesterday, setting fire to two mosques and scrawling graffiti on buildings, Palestinian officials said.
The attacks followed an incident on Friday when four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers – one of whom acted as a security co-ordinator for a nearby Israeli settlement – were killed when 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 stand-off ensued, with video appearing to show one of the Palestinians grabbing a settler’s weapon.
Palestinian local authorities say the settlers provoked the violence. The Israeli military said shots were fired by both sides.
The incident was the latest in a series of clashes this year involving settlers in which dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded, according to figures from the UN and the Palestinian Authority.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing an election in October, ordered a major security operation against what he described as attacks against Israeli civilians, reinforcing units in the West Bank and cancelling leave.
Members of his government, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have called for annexation of the West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Settlers carried out a series of attacks on Palestinian villages in different areas of the West Bank in the early hours of the morning, Palestinian officials said.
Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the village council in Qusra, southeast of Nablus, said settlers had torched a newly completed mosque in his village yesterday.
“The mosque was in its final stage and was ready to receive worshippers. It had already been furnished with couches. They set it on fire and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on its walls,” he told Reuters by telephone. Among the graffiti were messages including “Jewish revenge” and the name of one of the Israelis killed near Tal.
The Palestinian Authority, which has responsibility for the section of the West Bank where Friday’s shootings took place, said the incident was part of a generalised assault on Palestinians.
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