Land Research Center

Violation: arson attack

Location:  Aqraba town- Nablus

Date:  April 13, 2018

Perpetrators: Price Tag colonists

Victims:  local mosque

Details:

On April 13, 2018,  Israeli colonists  set fire to a mosque in the Aqraba village in Aqraba town in the east of Nablus in northern West Bank, after throwing highly flammable substances on it and writing racist slogans on its walls.

Local activist Youssef Deiriyeh said that  the Palestinian residents rushed out to the scene after noticing the smoke coming out of the mosque and managed to control the fire before the mosque is fully burnt,

The attackers poured flammable materials at the building’s entrance and set it on fire before fleeing the scene.

Pictures of the aftermath showed fire and smoke damage to the front of the mosque, as well as the words “death” and “price tag” spray painted onto the outside walls of the mosque.

Price-tag group:

 A terrorist group that is comprised of right wing activists carrying out systematic  and/or 'strategic' attacks all over the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the 1948-occupied Palestine under the protection and support of the Israeli Army. The price-tag campaign includes attacks on Palestinian-owned property like lands, crops and vehicles as well as attacks on religious sites and writing enticing and offensive slogans among others.  One of its infamous slogans is "A good Arab is a dead one" which openly calls for murder and racism. Most price taggers are Yeshiva students  aged between 18-23 years. They first appeared in 2008 and have been growing since.

Pictures 1-4: photos of the aftermathAbout Aqraba:

18 kilometers to the southwest of Nablus, Aqraba can be set as an example of a recurrent target for the Israeli occupation attacks.

The village totals 34,660 dunums in area, mostly, agricultural lands. However, the Israeli occupation declared more than 281,000 dunums of the village lands as military zone that Palestinians are not allowed to exploit in any way while soaking the area with various colonies including Gittit.  Thus, Aqraba is left with only1, 350 as a built-up area.

Colonies founded on Aqraba lands are expanding on daily basis; they are classified as “agricultural settlements”. In addition, the Israelis have placed numerous watch towers and military encampments in order to control the whole region.

In 1969, ‘Aqraba witnessed the milling of by-pass road “506”, which connects the Israeli colonies to the east of ‘Aqraba to each other and eases the movement of the Israeli Occupation Army vehicles in the area. However, the Palestinians are not allowed to even get near the road.

More than 500 Palestinians reside in nomad gatherings around ‘Aqraba; the residents of these communities face day-to-day threats against their houses, tents, shacks; basically, their existence.

Additionally, the Israeli colonists try to chase these people out of their fields in an attempt to take over the area.                                   

‘Aqraba is inhabited by around 8,180 people with unemployment reaching up to 50% due to the hardships imposed by the Occupiers.

The contents of this document is the sole responsibility of LRC and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.