‘Israeli’ Settlers Set Palestinian Mosque on Fire

By Staff, Agencies

A group of Zionist settlers tried to burn down a mosque near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah by hurling firebombs inside that burned part of the structure, the Palestinian Authority said Monday.

Hussam Abu al-Rub, the Palestinian deputy minister for religious affairs, said settlers attacked the mosque after midnight, sprayed anti-Palestinian slogans in Hebrew and then hurled fire bombs inside burning part of the structure.

The mosque in el-Bireh, near Ramallah, is on a hilltop opposite an ‘Israeli’ settlement. On one of its walls read the slogan: “A siege on the Arabs, not on the Jews.”

“Had the firebomb got to the carpet floor of the prayer hall, the mosque would have burned completely," he said. “The ‘Israeli’ government is responsible for the attack because they are the ones who opened the way for settlers to take our land and terrorize our people.”

The Zionist occupation police had no immediate comment and there was no claim of responsibility. But it appeared to be the latest case of the so-called “price tag” attacks that hardline Zionists have been known to carry out against Arabs in recent years.