Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in Nablus

Israeli settlers set fire to the Abu Bakr Mosque in the town of Aqraba, Nablus in the northern West Bank, at dawn today.

An activist said a number of worshipers who were on their way to the mosque for dawn prayers were shocked to find the women’s room in the basement on fire. The fire damaged the carpet, copies of the Quran and caused a number of windows to break.

He added that settlers also graffitied racist slogans on the wall on the mosque calling for the death of the Arabs and for them to be killed.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority or the Israeli authorities following the incident.

Similar attacks have occurred over the past five months where settlers set fire to barns owned by Arabs and painted racist slogans on buildings. Several mosques have also been burnt in recent months in particular in the villages surrounding the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to witnesses and activists.