Palestine condemns the burning of a West Bank mosque by Israeli settlers as a crime reflecting the ‘barbarity’ of Israeli incitement, amid a surge in attacks on holy sites.
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs has condemned the burning of parts of a mosque in the West Bank city of Nablus by illegal Israeli settlers as a crime reflecting the barbarity of the Israeli racist incitement machine.
According to witnesses, illegal settlers raided the town of Tal west of Nablus early Monday and set fire to parts of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque, damaging its entrance and façade with smoke while spray-painting racist slogans on its outer walls including the name of the right-wing ‘Price Tag’ group.
The ministry stated that these gangs attack Islamic holy sites and citizens’ properties on a daily basis with a systematic increase in its frequency and nature.
It noted that 45 mosques were attacked by illegal settlers under the protection of Israeli forces last year alone.
Burning parts of the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque clearly demonstrates the barbarity that the Israeli racist incitement machine has reached toward Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine according to the ministry which called it a blatant attack on Muslims and their sentiments.
Repeated attacks on holy sites including arson closure and preventing the call to prayer are nothing but evidence of the fierce barbarity from which the occupation acts the ministry added.
This crime has surpassed all religious laws and international regulations that guarantee freedom of worship and the establishment of places of worship the statement continued.
About 770,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in hundreds of settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank including 250,000 in East Jerusalem committing daily attacks against Palestinian citizens with the aim of forcibly displacing them.
Since the beginning of its war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023 the Israeli army and illegal settlers have intensified attacks in the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
Palestinians view the escalation including killings arrests displacement and settlement expansion as a step towards formal annexation of the occupied territory.
Since October 2023 the Israeli army and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,117 Palestinians in the West Bank including East Jerusalem injured about 11,500 and arrested around 22,000.
In a landmark opinion in July 2024 the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Sun Malaysia
