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Mosque torched near Bethlehem in suspected hate crime
A West Bank mosque was set alight in a village near Bethlehem Tuesday with anti-Arab slogans in Hebrew sprayed on a nearby wall, Palestinian witnesses said
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West Bank mosque was set alight in a village near Bethlehem Tuesday with anti-Arab slogans inHebrew sprayed on a nearby wall, Palestinian witnesses said.
The fire was discovered in the mosque in Jaba village at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT). Villagers managed to put it out but there was some damage to the building, the witnesses said.
On a nearby wall, the perpetrators had sprayed the word "revenge" and other slogans in Hebrew alongside a Star of David, with witnesses saying it was believed to be the work of hardline Jewish settlers.
The village is located 10 kilometres southwest of Bethlehem, close to Gush Etzion, a cluster of Jewish settlements.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed the Palestinians had filed a complaint about the torching of a mosque in Jaba and said the police unit for nationalistic crime would investigate.
The attack and accompanying graffiti bore the hallmarks of a so-called "price tag" attack -- a euphemism for nationalistically motivated hate crime by Jewish extremists which generally targets Palestinians or Arab Israelis. (+++++)
