Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages in West Bank
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, setting fire to two mosques and scrawling graffiti on buildings, Palestinian officials said, reports BritPanorama.
The attacks followed an incident on Friday when four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers—one of whom acted as a security coordinator 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 confronted the settlers, leading to a stand-off where video appeared to show one Palestinian grabbing a settler’s weapon. Palestinian local authorities assert that the settlers provoked the violence, while the Israeli military reported that shots were fired by both sides.
The recent incident is part of a troubling trend; this year, clashes involving settlers have resulted in dozens of Palestinian casualties and hundreds of injuries, according to figures from the U.N. and the Palestinian Authority.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preparing for elections in October, has ordered a major security operation against what he termed terrorism against Israeli civilians, reinforcing military units in the West Bank and cancelling leave for personnel.
Key members of his government, including far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, continue to advocate for the annexation of the West Bank, territory captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.
Settlers engaged in a series of attacks on Palestinian villages in various areas of the West Bank early Sunday, as reported by Palestinian officials.
Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the village council in Qusra, southeast of Nablus, stated that settlers set fire to a newly completed mosque in his village early on Sunday. “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. The graffiti included messages like “Jewish revenge” and the name of an Israeli killed near Tal.
The Palestinian Authority, which oversees the area where Friday’s shootings occurred, declared the incident part of a wider assault on Palestinian communities.
“Israeli state-backed settler terrorism is intensifying into systematic pogroms across the occupied West Bank,” the Palestinian prime minister’s office stated on the social media platform X.
The Israeli military confirmed that troops sent to Qusra found evidence of arson and graffiti and are searching for the suspects involved. They stated that police would collect evidence from the site.
“The security forces strongly condemn incidents of this kind, including harm to religious sites, and will continue to act decisively to maintain security and public order in the area,” the military remarked.
One Israeli military official noted that such acts of violence by Israelis divert the defense forces’ focus from their primary missions of defense and counter-terrorism amid a complex environment.
Over the weekend, Israeli troops arrested more than 130 individuals for various offenses, including weapons trafficking and incitement.
In separate incidents, Palestinian officials reported that settlers attempted to set fire to a mosque near Kour and attacked Palestinian workers at a stone-cutting facility in Kafr Malik, near Ramallah.
Farid Jiyousi, a member of the Kour village council, stated that three settlers attempted to burn the mosque at dawn but worshippers extinguished the fire before it could reach the primary area. He noted, “This is the first attack our village has experienced,” adding the attackers also left graffiti on the mosque walls.
Amid a broader security clampdown across the West Bank, Israeli forces reportedly arrested around 60 Palestinians over the weekend, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, which monitors Palestinian detainees.
Most countries and U.N. bodies consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal, a stance that Israel rejects. The Palestinians regard the West Bank as the core of a future independent state, while Israel cites historical ties to the land.
On Sunday, Pope Leo expressed deep concern regarding the escalating violence and called for negotiations towards a “just political solution.” He further urged a rejection of actions that violate the respect and status quo of holy sites for all religious faiths.
