“The young men demonstrating against the illegal settlements are heroes,” said Mohammed Zain, a local activist from the Nablus area, at the time.
“We will continue the peaceful protests until we foil the Israeli government’s plan to seize our lands. What happened on Saturday is not because we are against the Jewish religion, or because we support Hitler. We just wanted to send a message that there isn’t much of a difference between Israel and the Nazis.”
Officials at the Beita Municipality refused to comment at the time on the burning of the Star of David with a swastika but several activists from the town defended the action and accused Israel of perpetrating “war crimes” against Beita’s residents.