LONDON: Jordanian authorities have strongly condemned ongoing terrorist attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, including an arson attack overnight on Wednesday at the Hajja Hamida Mosque in Salfit Governorate in the occupied West Bank.
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs said it holds the Israeli government “fully responsible for these crimes.”
Ministry spokesperson Fuad Majali said: “These repeated attacks (are) an extension of the extremist policies of the Israeli government and the inflammatory statements of its officials, which fuel hatred, extremism and violence against the Palestinian people.”
He warned that ongoing assaults by settlers, and restrictions on Palestinians, in the West Bank could escalate tensions and threaten regional stability, the Jordan News Agency reported.
Majali also highlighted the importance of supporting the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as a vital step for achieving a just peace and wider regional stability.
Settlers torched and defaced the mosque, in the Palestinian town of Deir Istiya in the central West Bank, on Wednesday night. One wall and at least three copies of the Qur’an were burned, along with some carpeting.
Settlers also vandalized the mosque, scrawling hateful slogans about Arabs and Muslims in a show of defiance after some Israeli military leaders condemned a recent settler attack on Palestinians.
