Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-11-13

An attack against a masjid in a West Bank village early on Wednesday ignited a fire that destroyed its first floor amid growing religious tensions and violence the village’s mayor said, blaming Jewish settlers for the attack.

The fire broke out before dawn near the Jewish settlement of Shilo.

Mayor Faraj Al-Naasan mayor of Mughayer said efforts of residents and Palestinian fire services to quell the blaze succeeded only in saving the building’s second floor.

Al-Naasan said he had no doubt that Jewish settlers were responsible, citing a previous settler attack against another masjid in the village two years ago and frequent settler attacks against vehicles and olive groves there. “Only Jewish settlers would do this.”

In a related incident, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an ancient synagogue in the Israeli-Arab town of Shfaram, Israeli police said.

The synagogue is not current used for worship.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were deployed later Wednesday near the entrance to Al-Mughayer but that “disturbances in the area” were preventing them from opening an investigation.

Rosenfeld did not elaborate on the extent of the disturbances but attacks such as the one in Al-Mughayer frequently ignite violent protests.

The attack on the masjid comes, as Israeli-Palestinian tensions remain high, mostly on account of competing claims to a holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The unrest has been prompted by Muslim fears of Jewish encroachment at the sacred site where al-Aqsa Masjid stands, a hilltop plateau known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

This in turn has fanned strife in a region already on edge following the collapse of US-led peace talks, Israel’s bloody war last summer in the Gaza Strip, and new Israeli settlement construction plans in east Jerusalem.

 The tensions at the shrines have frequently boiled over into violent demonstrations, though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel has no plans to change the status quo at the Jerusalem holy sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that frequent visits to the site by Jewish worshipers are fueling clashes and accused Israel of leading the region toward a “religious war.”

– Radio Islam & agencies

(Twitter: @Faizie143)