With the Approval of Israeli Authorities Waves of Settler Attacks Target Defenseless Palestinian, Mosques, Homes and Businesses Across West Bank

From [HERE] Israeli settlers on Sunday launched a series of widespread attacks across the West Bank, setting on fire two mosques in Nablus and Tulkarm and damaging heavy equipment at an industrial facility near Ramallah.

Eyewitnesses told Middle East Eye that settlers also raided several towns and villages, attacked homes, destroyed vehicles and fired live ammunition to terrorise residents.

The attacks targeted communities in the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah, Hebron, Salfit, Qalqilya, Jericho and Jerusalem, according to Palestinian officials who said settlers were acting under the protection of Israeli forces.

In the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, Israeli settlers burned large parts of the al-Rahma mosque and spray-painted racist slogans in Hebrew on its walls.

Activist Abdul-Azim Wadi, from the village, told MEE that he received a call at 2:30 am informing him that settlers had burned the mosque, located in the southwestern part of the village. 

Wadi said that he, along with several other residents, went to the scene to extinguish the flames.

The mosque was scheduled to open in the coming days. The residents of Qusra had painted its walls and carpeted it the previous day, but the fire caused extensive damage, including partial collapse of some of its walls, he said. 

Wadi said that slogans such as "Israel will be established with blood" and "Mosques will not frighten us" were written on the walls, in addition to messages that indicated that the arson was in revenge for the settlers killed in Tell. 

“Neighbours of the mosque saw the settlers leaving the area before the residents arrived to extinguish the fire. We also found three slogans they had written on the outer walls," the activist said. [MORE]