US citizen, 92, recounts West Bank arson attack: 'I would have burned'

Deir Dibwan Mayor Mansour Mansour on Monday detailed a Sunday evening assault by Israeli occupiers on the largely US-citizen West Bank town. The attack featured arson on vehicles and a mosque that left a 92-year-old American narrowly escaping immolation, according to the mayor. The violence targeted a community where migration to the United States began in the late Ottoman period and continued through the 1948 Nakba and 1967 war.

Coordinated arson assault

The assault began after sunset prayers when a large group of occupiers entered the town's outskirts and began attacking residents and their property, burning vehicles and farmland, Mansour told Anadolu. "The attacks spread to several residential neighborhoods and outskirts of the town, where vehicles parked in front of homes were targeted and fires were set on farmland," he said. The attackers used flammable materials that caused fires in agricultural areas, the mayor added, noting that Palestinian Civil Defense crews and local volunteers later brought the blazes under control after they caused material damage. Palestinian Red Crescent crews treated wounded residents, though Mansour declined to specify casualty numbers, and Israeli forces arrived only after the attackers had withdrawn.

US citizenship offers no protection

Approximately 70 percent of Deir Dibwan's roughly 6,000 residents hold US citizenship, a legacy of migration waves that began during the late Ottoman period and accelerated through the 1948 Nakba and 1967 occupation, with family reunification expanding the diaspora over generations, according to the mayor. Many villagers maintain split lives between the United States and Palestine, Mansour noted, yet this American status has not prevented repeated occupier attacks that residents believe aim to displace them. "The US Embassy contacted the Deir Dibwan municipality after the attack, and that contact was also made with the Israeli side," Mansour said, adding that diplomats promised a future field visit to review conditions. "The repeated attacks on the town come in the context of pressure and intimidation," he stressed, noting that residents feel diplomatic engagement has failed to translate into tangible protective measures on the ground.

'I would have burned'

Yasser Rashid, 92, who holds US citizenship and divides his time between Deir Dibwan and America, recounted being inside the mosque when an occupier sprayed gasoline through a window onto his face and clothes before igniting the fire. "I opened the window and saw an occupier with a gasoline container. Then he sprayed it on my face and clothes, then lit the fire," Rashid told Anadolu, adding that he leapt back just in time to avoid incineration. "If I had stayed in my place for a moment, I would have burned," he said, describing how worshippers inside rushed to extinguish the blaze. "We are steadfast here. We will die on this land and will not leave it," Rashid added, acknowledging that his vehicle was also torched during the coordinated assaults across the town.