A fire broke out on Sunday in the Jerusalem offices of one of Israel’s leading human rights groups and authorities were checking whether it was set deliberately, according to police spokeswoman.
Firefighters arrived at the offices of B’Tselem, an Israeli group that monitors human rights among Palestinians, in a quiet Jerusalem neighbourhood, and extinguished the blaze. There were no reports of casualties, Luba Samri, a police spokeswoman, said.The blaze took place at a time of heightened tensions. Scores of people have been killed in several months of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The wave of bloodshed, now in its fourth month, has raised fears of wider escalation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.
Since 1 October, Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 139 Palestinians – 89 of those were described as assailants by authorities; most of the others were killed in clashes with security forces.Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shooting attacks have killed 21 Israelis and a US citizen.
Vandalism attacks, including torchings, by suspected far-right Israeli groups have caused damage to Palestinian property and mosques and churches.
Two Israelis were charged last week over the death of a Palestinian baby and his parents in the West Bank last year after their home was set on fire.
Israel’s right-wing government has proposed legislation to limit foreign donations from governments and private benefactors to B’Tselem and many other Israeli NGOs, something that could severely restrict the organisation’s ability to operate.
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