Israeli Settlers Burn Vehicles, Attempt Mosque Fire in Deir Dibwan Near Ramallah

Israeli settlers carried out arson attacks and an attempted mosque fire in Deir Dibwan, a town east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, where Mayor Mansour Mansour said about 70 percent of the town’s roughly 6,000 residents hold US citizenship.

“Ninety-year-old Haj Yasser Saqar Rashid did not realize that a Quran contemplation session between the Maghrib and Isha prayers inside the Al-Marah Mosque in Deir Dibwan would turn into a night in which he faced the danger of dying by burning”

Al-Jazeera Net

TRT World reported that the latest attack took place on Sunday after sunset prayers, when a large group of illegal settlers entered the outskirts and began attacking residents and their property by burning vehicles and trying to set fire to a mosque.

Al-Jazeera Net

In the same Deir Dibwan incident, TRT World quoted Mansour saying, “The attacks spread to several residential neighbourhoods and outskirts of the town,” and added that Palestinian Civil Defence crews and local volunteers later brought the fires under control.

TRT World also included the account of 92-year-old resident Yasser Rashid, who told Anadolu that he saw an occupier with a gasoline container, “Then he sprayed it on my face and clothes, then lit the fire.”

In nearby Burqa, Palestinian media outlets reported that settlers attempted to set fire to a mosque while worshipers were inside on Sunday night, and the Times of Israel said the council head added that worshippers inside managed to extinguish the fire before it could spread further.

The Times of Israel reported that the Palestinian Authority’s Wafa news agency said settlers broke down the doors of the mosque and set fire to the entrance before fleeing, while Haaretz said Israeli police arrested six suspects after settlers set fire to a mosque and cars in Deir Dibwan and Burqa.

Anadolu Ajansi

Haaretz’s report framed the arrests as law enforcement action, while the Arab 48 report described a court decision in which the Beitar-Tikva Magistrates' Court “extended the detention of five of them until next Thursday,” despite a police request to extend detention for eight days.

Arab 48 also quoted the Palestinian Foreign Ministry’s characterization that the attacks in Deir Dibwan and Burqa east of Ramallah represent “organized terrorism” aimed at displacing Palestinians from their lands and undermining their resilience.

France 24 reported that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said settler violence in the occupied West Bank had reached a record pace, with the average number of attacks rising to six per day and causing thousands of Palestinians to be displaced.

“West Bank: Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and attack a mosque near Ramallah”

France 24

France 24 also said OCHA reported that more than 2,200 Palestinians have been displaced this year due to settler violence and other access restrictions, and that hundreds have been displaced by Israeli authorities demolishing their homes.

In parallel, TRT World described Deir Dibwan residents as saying the US diplomatic contact after the attack “has not yet translated into tangible practical measures on the ground to stop the attacks,” while Mansour stressed that repeated attacks come amid “pressure and intimidation” aimed at displacing them.

The TRT World account added that Palestinian Red Crescent crews treated residents who were wounded, and it described the attack as coinciding with other attacks in different parts of Deir Dibwan where vehicles parked in streets and in front of homes were targeted.