Illegal Israeli settlers on Thursday evening set fire to the Al-Falah Mosque north of the town of Biddya, west of the Salfit governorate.

The attack, which caused damage to the holy site, is the latest in a relentless and escalating wave of violence targeting Palestinian communities and their places of worship across the occupied West Bank.

According to local residents, the settlers violently stormed the area surrounding the mosque, igniting parts of the structure before courageous locals managed to bring the blaze under control, preventing a total catastrophe. The assailants also defaced the walls of a nearby Palestinian home with vile, racist anti-Arab and anti-Muslim slogans scrawled in Hebrew, sending a chilling message of colonial hostility.

This arson attack is not an isolated incident but a clear example of the systematic and increasingly brutal settler violence that Palestinian communities face daily. Disturbingly, recent weeks have seen a surge in such extremist activity, often carried out under the passive or active protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

Growing Impunity: Human rights organizations consistently point out the near-total impunity enjoyed by settlers. While some Israeli officials, including the President, have issued rare condemnations of the violence—calling it "shocking and serious"—arrests and serious prosecutions of perpetrators remain exceedingly rare. This lack of accountability effectively emboldens further crimes.

The desecration and burning of mosques, including the burning of copies of the Holy Qur'an, has become a horrifying tactic of the settler militias. This directly violates the sanctity of religious sites and is seen by Palestinians as an attempt to erase their cultural and religious identity from the land.

The international community, including the United Nations, has repeatedly condemned the surge in settler violence, reminding Israel, as the Occupying Power, of its legal obligations under international law to protect the Palestinian civilian population and hold perpetrators accountable. The UN has warned that this extremist violence risks further escalating tensions and undermining regional stability.

The attack on Al-Falah Mosque in Biddya underscores the continuous plight of Palestinians living under occupation, where fundamental rights, including the freedom to worship, are routinely violated by state-backed illegal settlers.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the arson attack as a "heinous crime committed by extremist settlers," holding the Israeli government fully responsible for the "dangerous escalation and the growing wave of settler terrorism."

The residents of Biddya and the entire Salfit region remain steadfast, restoring the damage to Al-Falah Mosque and refusing to be terrorized into leaving their land. (ILKHA)