ANKARA
Turkey has condemned the torching of a mosque near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
A mosque was torched Wednesday near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and racist slogans against Arabs and Muslims were spray-painted on its walls in Hebrew.
"Israel should take necessary caution to prevent any uprising in the region,” said Turkey's Foreign Ministry in a written statement released Thursday, adding that it “expect(ed) the perpetrators to be caught and put on trial as soon as possible."
According to the head of the village's council Noman Hemdan, Jewish settlers stormed Al-Jabaa village at 4 a.m. and torched the Al-Huda mosque.
"The fire caused considerable damage to the mosque before it was put out by the local residents," he said Wednesday. "The settlers also sprayed racist phrases against Arabs and Muslims, including 'death to Arabs!' on the mosque's walls."
Several attacks, called the "price tag," by Jewish extremists targeting Muslim houses of worship have recently been reported in areas across the Jewish state and in the occupied West Bank.
"Price tag" refers to a strategy, adopted by extremist Jewish settlers, which consists of attacking Palestinians or Arab Israelis, and their property, in retaliation to perceived threats to Israeli settlement expansion.
While the incidents have drawn public condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian officials say such incidents often transpire as Israeli troops and police look on.
