Israeli settlers torch mosque and spray graffiti in latest West Bank attack

By Zeena Saifi, Ibrahim Dahman, CNN

(CNN) — Israeli settlers torched a mosque and sprayed it with graffiti in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to Palestinian authorities, the latest in a surge of increasingly brazen settler attacks against Palestinians.

The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said settlers attacked the Hajjah Hamidah Mosque in Salfit in the northern West Bank, calling it a “heinous crime and a blatant assault on the feelings of Muslims.”

“The attack resulted in parts of the mosque being set on fire and defaced with racist graffiti by settler gangs, who carry out daily assaults on Islamic holy sites and citizens’ properties amid a systematic escalation in both the frequency and nature of these violations,” the ministry statement said.

Images shared by the ministry showed writing in Hebrew on the exterior of the mosque saying, “Mohammed is a pig,” a reference to Islam’s prophet, and “Not afraid of Avi Bluth.” Bluth is the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander in the West Bank, who issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the settler attacks and calling the perpetrators an “anarchist fringe youth.”

Images showed parts of the interior damaged by fire, with a pile of charred debris scattered across the ground. The walls appear blackened with smoke and heat marks, and the glass of the windows smashed.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the attack in a statement, saying it “holds the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences.”

In a statement to CNN, the IDF acknowledged the attack, saying it dispatched forces to the scene to “review the incident and conduct scans” and transferred the case to the Israel Police for further processing. The IDF said “no suspects were identified.”

Some 700,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory the Palestinians want for a future state. Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal according to international law.

Record number of settler attacks

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their properties have surged this year, particularly during the olive harvest season in October and November. A United Nations report released last week found that Israeli settlers launched at least 264 attacks in October, the largest number since the UN began tracking incidents in 2006. The repeated attacks have marred this year’s olive harvest.

On Tuesday, dozens of Israeli settlers launched a major arson attack against an agricultural area in the northern West Bank village of Beit Lid, setting fire to a a new dairy factory and torching vehicles and tents in a nearby Bedouin community.

Footage obtained by CNN showed the settlers pouring gasoline on cars and trucks before setting the vehicles alight. The video showed smoke engulfing the area, with Palestinian women wailing as men carry extinguishers and water buckets in a scramble to douse the fires.

CNN visited the site of the attack and saw charred vehicles, and the damage left around the Bedouin community.

Monjed Aljuneidi, an executive of Al-Juneidi Dairy and Food Company said the scene was “indescribable.” He recalled dozens of settlers scaling the factory fences from multiple directions.

“I think it was just a message to scare us, to scare our employees… to try to enforce their reality on the ground… (but) we will continue operations, they can’t stop us,” he said.

In the nearby Bedouin community of Deir Sharaf, residents told CNN at least four Palestinians were injured and required hospitalization from the attack. They said settlers beat them and killed four of their sheep.

Fifteen-year-old Nabil Dueis was tending to his livestock when the settlers rampaged the area.

“It was terrifying, especially for the women and children…I was defensless against 100 of them…we need protection from the state” he told CNN.

According to the IDF, the settlers then attacked Israeli soldiers and damaged and Israeli military vehicle.

Israeli Police initially said it had arrested four suspects for questioning following what it called “extreme violence.” at the site. But by Wednesday evening, police said they had released three of the suspects.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the series of attacks “affirms the increasing terrorism and crimes of the settlers, 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 institutions to take action to ensure accountability.

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