World Bulletin / News Desk

Israeli settlers vandalised and set on fire a mosque in the village of Jaba in the occupied West Bank early on Tuesday, Palestinians said.

Scrawled on the outside walls in Hebrew were the words "Ulpana War", referring to the Ulpana hill in a West Bank settlement where the Israeli government is preparing to remove five apartment buildings.

Around three metres of the mosque's interior wall and carpeting were scorched.

"At one o'clock we heard screaming from the people of the village and realised the mosque was on fire. More than three hundred people awoke and we managed to put it out," said mayor Abdul Karim Sharaf.

"After that we saw the writing, racist writing," he said. "This is great injustice clear to the world."

The mosque vandalism came as a July 1 deadline approaches for Netanyahu's government, in accordance with a court ruling, to tear down the Ulpana buildings, in the Beit El settlement.

International Court of Justice ruled Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands illegal.