By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

LUBBAN ASH-SHARQIYA, West Bank – Arsonists set fire to a mosque in a town ten kilometers south of Nablus on May 4. The mosque was largely destroyed by the attack, and Israeli settlers are widely suspected of setting the mosque on fire.

Israeli forces are continuing to investigate the arson, and said they have not yet found any evidence linking the attack to settlers. Still, the mayor of Lubban Ash-Sharqiya told journalists that local residents had seen the settlers in the village streets before the attack. Lubban Ash-Sharqiya is near three Israeli settlers: Eli, Maaleh Levona, and Shiloh.

Tensions have been high in the Nablus area since Israeli settlers allegedly vandalized a mosque in nearby Hawara a month ago; the Star of David and the name “Mohammad” was written in Hebrew letters on the walls of the mosque. Earlier this week, an olive orchard in Hawara was set on fire. In December, another mosque in Yasuf, also in the Nablus area, was set on fire and a message in Hebrew was left. Though the Israeli police have begun investigations into these attacks, there have been no arrests.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that such attacks could be irreparably harm the peace process. In a statement released on May 4, Abbas said that such attacks were “criminal,” and that the most recent arson “represented a threat to the efforts to revive the peace process,” because the Israeli army protects illegal settlers.

Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a six-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, radical Israeli settler groups have adopted a “price tag” policy, calling for aggressive action to any action by the Israeli police or military to curb unauthorized settlement expansion or construction. On May 3, Israeli authorities destroyed several structures in the Shavei Shomron settlement, which had been built in violation of the settlement freeze.

For more information, please see:

The Washington Post – Mahmoud Abbas Warns Fire at West Bank Mosque Could Imperil Peace Talks – 5 May 2010

Al-Jazeerah – Illegal Israeli Settlers Burn Al-Lubban Mosque in the West Bank – 4 May 2010

Herald Sun – Settlers Torch West Bank Mosque – 4 May 2010

New York Times – Emotions in West Bank Run High After Mosque Fire – 4 May 2010