RIYADH: Muslim-majority countries, including regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Turkey, said on Thursday that they held Israel responsible for arson attacks on two West Bank mosques, which Palestinian officials said were torched by settlers.
Joint Statement Condemns Violence
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey lambasted "the continued and escalating settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank," pointing to the mosques that were set on fire a day earlier. "The Ministers hold Israel -- as the occupying power -- responsible for these attacks," they said in a joint statement.
Details of the Attacks
On Wednesday, Israeli settlers set fire to mosques in the West Bank villages of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, and neighboring Mazari an-Nubani, their mayors said. AFP journalists at one site saw scorched walls and graffiti. Israel's military confirmed the arson and graffiti on the mosques but did not identify the perpetrators.
AFP journalists who visited one torched mosque saw graffiti daubed on the walls in Hebrew. Some read "vengeance" and: "Hi, from the Hilltop Youth." The Hilltop Youth are a group of Israelis in the West Bank who are regularly accused of violence towards Palestinians they seek to evict from areas they want to take over.
International Reactions
The joint statement from the Muslim-majority countries underscores growing international concern over settler violence in the occupied territories. The ministers urged the international community to take immediate action to protect Palestinians and hold Israel accountable under international law.
