Arabs in a village north of Ramallah Wednesday morning accused Jews of setting fire to a local mosque in the pre-dawn hours, causing heavy damage to the first floor.
The village mayor said firefighters saved the rest of the building from serious damage.
There is no evidence that Jews were responsible for the fire, and there was no graffiti, but the mayor said he is sure “settlers” lit the match, as they allegedly did two years ago at another mosque in the village.
He took the opportunity to blame Jews for destroying olive trees.
“Only Jewish settlers would do this,” said the mayor, Faraj al-Naasan.
That is not always true because videos in the past have proven that Arabs often hack away at their own olive trees, usually ones that are too old to produce much fruit, and then blame Jews.
There are a few dozen Jewish hotheads who are capable of making trouble for everyone, Arabs and Jews alike, but in this case, there is a possibility that a short-circuit caused the fire. The Arabs said they had checked the electricity and there were no problems.