Mayor of Deir Dibwan Mansour Mansour told WAFA that settlers stormed the village and spray-painted anti-Palestinian slogans on the walls and asphalt of a mosque and several vehicles.
Israeli media reported that among the graffiti spray-painted on the mosque were the so-called Star of David and slogans reading "Here they incite to murder Jews" and "Am Yisrael Chai (The of Israel lives)".
Palestinians reported that the settlers poured flammable material on the shoe rack placed at the entry of the mosque, but apparently didn?t light it.
Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Yousef Id`es denounced the settlers` vandalism.
"There are no longer safe places of worship in light of Israeli forces and settlers" attacks and crimes (against the Palestinian people)" said Id`es, adding that act of vandalism is a new provocative attack added to the list of Israeli crimes against the holy sites.
He urged Arab and Islamic countries and other honorable nations around the world to intervene and protect holy places in the occupied Palestinian territories.
On other occasions settlers` raids ended dramatically, such as with the case of a settlers? arson attack against the Dawabsheh family in the Nablus-district village of Duma on July 31, 2015.
The arson attack resulted in the killing of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsheh and seriously injured the toddler?s parents, Sa`ad and Riham, who succumbed to their wounded weeks later. The couple`s seven-year-old son Ahmad is the only remaining survivor.
Such attacks are committed by "Price tag" --an underground anti-Palestinian Israeli group that routinely attacks Palestinians in the occupied territories and inside Israel.
The Israeli government still refuses to label it as a terrorist organization and considers it only as group of vandals. It also considers such acts as hate crimes against Palestinians.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
It includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
The number of settlers living in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law has jumped to 834,000 and settlement expansion has tripled since the signing of Oslo Accords in 1993.
All settlements across the West Bank are illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which establishes that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
(T.C003/C/C003/M007) 05-02-2019 11:26:4
Reporter: Antara/WAFA
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
