Jamal Daraghmeh, the head of Al-Libban Al-Sharqiyeh council, said that the around 3 a.m. residents heard vehicles driving around the area of the mosque, but no one dared to step out because they were certain it was occupiers. The village is located near the settlements of Shilo, Ma'ale Levona, and Eli.
The development came hours after US special envoy to Middle East George Mitchell arrived in the region, preparing to kick start indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Daraghmeh said in a press statement: "When the mosque's imam arrived at the site at 3.45a.m. for the morning prayer, he saw the mosque on fire. The fire consumed 80 percent, maybe 90 percent of the mosque." He added that the arson was the result of a "price tag" reprisal by settlers. The Israeli police said they were also exploring the possibility that an electrical fault caused the blaze.
However, Daraghmeh said that the area where the fire originated was not connected to any electricity because works were underway at the site, and added that the pile of Qur’an copies found in the area of the fire proves that it was deliberate arson.
He stressed that this is not the first time the village was targeted by settlers. "In the past they also smashed windows, uprooted olive trees, damaged houses and property. At least once a week settlers come in, riot and harm the village."
The occupiers are increasing their acts of harassment against the Palestinians in the West Bank as a "price tag" for the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on last November that a 10-month partial moratorium on new housing starts in the West Bank settlements. Netanyahu said the move was in a bid to revive the peace talks with the Palestinians.
Last month, a number of "price tag" reprisals were carried out. In the village of Hewara near Nablus, three Palestinian vehicles were torched and graffiti was sprayed on a mosque.
Two days later, fire was set to two Palestinian vehicles in the village of Jainsafout, east of Qalqilyah, and the words "price tag" and a Start of David were sprayed on the walls of a building in the village.
Last December, fire was set to a mosque in Yasouf village, and the words "price tag" were also sprayed. Israeli police arrested youths from the settlement of Yitzhar and even questioned the rabbi of the community's yeshiva, but no one was charged.
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, condemned the arson saying: "It may ignite religious war in the region." Hussein told Arab News that the arson is "clear proof of how Israeli occupation authorities disdain the Islamic holy shrines." He called on the Arab and Muslim nations and on international organizations on to "curb Israeli occupation authorities' atrocities." Meanwhile, Israeli occupiers set on fire to a wheat field in the town of Hewara, to the south of Nablus.
Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said that settlers from nearby settlement of Yitzhar arrived at the western parts of the town and torched several dunums planted with wheat.
Daghlas added that the wet wheat prevented prevent the spread of fire to other fields.
