Israeli settlers torch Palestinian school as tensions rise over Trump peace plan

A Palestinian school was torched by settlers in the West Bank, just days after a similar attack on a Jerusalem mosque.

1 min read

28 January, 2020

Settlers set fire to a classroom and painted anti-Arab graffiti [Getty]

Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank and left behind anti-Arab grafitti, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday.

The attack occurred overnight, hours before the expected unveiling of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan.

Hebrew graffiti scrawled on a wall reads: “Demolishing homes? Only of enemies," and contained a reference to a nearby settlement outpost that was recently dismantled.

Similar graffiti was left outside a mosque that was torched on the outskirts of Jerusalem last week.

Riyad Shkokani, a teacher at the school, said it is located in a village outside the West Bank town of Nablus close to the Yitzhar settlement. Yitzhar is a bastion of hard-line settlers, who in the past have clashed with Israeli forces and Palestinians.

The Israeli police said in a statement that security forces will enter the area to investigate reports of vandalism.

The attack overnight Tuesday came hours before President Donald Trump is set to announce a Middle East peace plan that is expected to strongly favour Israel.

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