Nablus (West Bank): Two West Bank churches were hit by firebombs early on Saturday, and a group claiming responsibility said it was protesting what many Muslims view as disparaging remarks about Islam by Pope Benedict XVI.
Relations between Palestinian Muslims and Christians are generally peaceful, and the attacks on an Anglican and a Greek Orthodox Church in the West Bank city of Nablus sparked concern about sudden tensions.
Clergy played down the attacks as isolated incidents, but said they'd worry if more Christian sites are targeted. On Friday, two small explosions went off near a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, causing minor damage.
''It is easy to worry,'' Father Yousef Saada, a Roman Catholic priest in Nablus, said Saturday. ''The atmosphere is charged already, and the wise should not accept such acts.''
Ayman Daraghmeh, a legislator from the ruling Islamic militant Hamas group, denounced the attacks, and urged Palestinian police to do more to protect Christian sites.
The firebombs left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of the two Nablus churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican Church.
In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group calling itself the ''Lions of Monotheism'' claimed responsibility. The caller said the attacks were carried out to protest the pope's remarks about Islam.
During a speech earlier this week, Benedict had cited an obscure Medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as ''evil and inhuman.''
The pope, spiritual leader of more than one billion Roman Catholics, did not explicitly agree with or repudiate the text.
The Vatican later said the pope did not mean the comments to be offensive. However, they have sparked worldwide protests by Muslims, and Muslim leaders have demanded an apology.
On Friday, about 2,000 Palestinians protested against the pope, accusing him of leading a new Crusade against the Muslim world. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said the pope offended Muslims everywhere.
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