A mosque in the West Bank city of Ramallah was set on fire early Monday and its walls had been descecrated with Hebrew writing, in what appears to be a hate crime.
Palestinians say a group of "settlers" arrived at the Al-Bir Mosque in the village of Al-Maghir, spray-painted the phrases "Curfew for Arabs and not Jews" and "Land of Israel in Hebrew on one of the site's outer walls.
Footage of the damage to the Ramallah mosque
The perpetrators then poured flammable liquid through a smashed window and set it ablaze before fleeing the scene.
Local residents noticed the fire and quickly arrived at the scene, even before the fire fighters reached the location.
The fire did not reach the mosque's prayer space but the purification room (a bathroom area) leading to it and an outside window were heavily damaged.
Local police said they've opened an investigation into the incident and reportedly already blocked off the entrance to the mosque.
The Palestinian Religious Affairs Ministry and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Jewish settlers of setting the blaze."This is racism and apartheid," Erekat said in a statement.
Cabinet Minister Amir Peretz condemned the incident on Twitter, calling for "the criminals and hatemongers" responsible for the blaze to be brought to justice. He did not explicitly mention settlers in his tweet.
Last month, the tires of eight vehicles were punctured in the village of Savay near Nablus and Hebrew inscriptions were spray-painted on the walls of several houses.
Reuters contributed to this report