Early on Sunday, Israeli settlers launched attacks on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. They set fire to mosques and vandalized buildings, according to Palestinian officials.
The attacks came after a tense incident on Friday where four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers, one of whom was a security coordinator for a nearby settlement, died as a group, some armed, of Israeli settlers confronted the Palestinian village of Tal, located southwest of Nablus. The conflict escalated when local villagers confronted the settlers, with a video seemingly showing a Palestinian taking a settler’s weapon. Palestinian authorities claim the settlers instigated the violence. The Israeli military reported that both groups exchanged gunfire.
Images captured children standing outside a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, which was reportedly targeted by settlers on Sunday. UNICEF/AFP
The incident adds to a growing number of clashes involving settlers this year, in which numerous Palestinians have been killed and injured, based on UN and Palestinian Authority statistics.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid an upcoming election in October, ordered significant security measures to counter what he called terrorism against Israeli civilians. These included increasing military presence in the West Bank and canceling leaves. Members from his government, like far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, have advocated for the annexation of the West Bank, land seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
In the early hours, settlers attacked Palestinian villages throughout the West Bank, officials said. Abdel Azim Wadi, leading the village council in Qusra, noted that settlers set a newly finished mosque on fire. He said the building, ready for worship, was furnished when the perpetrators damaged it and scrawled Hebrew slogans. Graffiti included “Jewish revenge” and references to one of the Israelis killed near Tal.
The Palestinian Authority, which oversees the area of Friday’s incident, described the attacks as a widespread threat to Palestinians. “Israeli state-backed settler terrorism is intensifying into systematic pogroms across the occupied West Bank,” stated the Palestinian prime minister’s office on social media.
Israeli military forces responded to the Qusra area, near several large settlements, finding signs of arson and vandalism. They launched operations to identify the suspects, stressing their commitment to maintaining security and public order.
An Israeli military spokesperson noted that such violence distracts the defense forces from their main tasks of defense and counter-terrorism in the area. Over the weekend, security forces detained over 130 individuals, including those involved in weapon trafficking and terrorism-related activities.
In separate attacks, settlers allegedly tried to set another mosque on fire near Kour, southeast of Tulkarm, and assaulted workers at a stone facility near Ramallah. Farid Jiyousi of Kour’s village council reported that local worshipers extinguished a fire before significant damage occurred.
As part of a wider security operation, Israeli forces arrested around 60 Palestinians from Saturday night, reported by the Palestinian Prisoners Club, monitoring detainees.
The international community, including many countries and UN bodies, deem these settlements illegal, a stance Israel disagrees with. The Palestinians view the West Bank as crucial for a future state; however, Netanyahu’s government rejects Palestinian statehood and has accelerated settlement expansion.
On Sunday, Pope Leo expressed his concerns over the escalating violence and urged diplomatic negotiations for a just political resolution, advocating for respect of all religious sites’ status quo.
Leave a Reply