Police are investigating an arson attack on a West Bank mosque that took place
early on Wednesday.
The mosque, situated in the Palestinian village of
Brukin, on the outskirts of Kalkilya, was vandalized with spray paint, and
burning tires were placed inside. A number of nearby vehicles belonging to the
village residents were torched and many car windows were smashed.
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“It’s
too early for us to talk about names of suspects,” a police spokeswoman told
The
Jerusalem Post.
Police set up a task force this year made up of National
Serious and International Crimes detectives and Judea and Samaria district
officers to tackle suspected far-right activists behind a wave of hate crimes
against Palestinians.
Police view the attacks as extremely dangerous
incidents that could spark wider waves of violence in the
region.
Separately, masked settlers attacked a Palestinian home in the
outskirts of the village of a-Sira a-Kaballa, near the Yitzhar settlement.
According to Munir Qadoos of Yesh Din, who visited the village on Wednesday, the
settlers threw bottles of paint and stones at the windows, smashing some of the
glass. The terrified family, who had small children, hid inside, he said. An
oil-like substance was also poured on the small paved path leading to the home,
he said. Qadoos added that he believed it was settlers from Yitzhar who had
attacked the house.
The IDF initially denied that the incident had
occurred, but then confirmed it. A spokesman explained that they saw evidence of
the attack on the home, only after making a second visit to the village in the
evening.
A Yitzhar spokesman said that tensions between his settlement
and the village had been high. On Tuesday, he said, six masked Palestinians
tried to ignite a nearby field but Border Police officers chased them, and
arrested two of the six. The Border Police said it knew of no such
incident.
Overnight, the spokesman said, Palestinians stole a security
camera that lay between their village and the settlement.
In its place,
he said, they left a Palestinian flag.