Increase in ‘price tag’ attacks in West Bank in bid to spread fear among Palestinians
Residents steadfast in the face of latest hate crimes including arson, threatening graffiti and slashed tyres
Jewish extremists set fire to a mosque in Aqraba village near Nablus this month
Jewish extremist vandals penetrated two West Bank villages on Sunday night, scrawling hate messages on buildings and puncturing car tyres.
The raids took place overnight in Rammun village near the West Bank city of Ramallah, and Beit Iksa, a hilltop village neighbouring the occupied East Jerusalem Jewish settlement of Ramot.
Last week, threatening graffiti was painted on walls and tyres were punctured in two West Bank villages near Nablus, Luban Al Sharkiya and Al Sawiya. In the most serious of those incidents, on April 13, Jewish extremists set fire to a mosque in Aqraba village, also near Nablus. Residents doused the flames and there was only light damage caused to the building.
In Beit Iksa, resident and carpenter Mohammed Al Zahir emerged from his home at 6.30am to find all the tyres on his Kia Rio and Volkswagen Transporter slashed. A star of David was scrawled on the back window of the VW.
“The star of David means that they only want Jews here, that they don’t want Palestinians in Beit Iksa,” Mr Al Zahir said. “This can definitely turn into violence against people. I feel afraid for my children. I feel afraid to live in my own house.”
He said Israeli police came, took pictures and wrote down the licence-plate numbers of the cars.
“For sure they won’t find them because it’s Israelis who did it,” Mr Al Zahir said.
He said he was troubled by the cost of replacing eight tyres on his modest salary.
At a neighbouring house, the words “Administrative Revenge” were scrawled in Hebrew in big black letters.
The phrase has also been found at other sites and appears to refer to the idea that extremist settlers will take revenge against Arabs for government steps against far-right settlers, such as placing them in administrative detention.
In Rammun, the phrase “Price Tag” was written on a building, referring to the idea that extremist settlers will exact a price from Arabs for any government steps against settlement construction.
On the shutters of shops, the infiltrators scrawled: “Make war on the enemy, not the lover”. It was a reference to the view of extremist settlers that the government is acting against them instead of against the Palestinians.
Saad Al Khatib, the head of the local council, said: “Settlers attacked the village. Their number is unknown since nobody saw them.
“People opened the door in the morning and were surprised to find the tyres destroyed and the provocative, evil and threatening slogans.
“Israeli co-ordination officers came, inspected and said they hope it is the last time.”
Mr Al Khatib said the attack was the fourth such incident in Beit Iksa in the past 12 months.
“This is a threatening action aimed at making people frightened so that they will leave,” he said. “But we are steadfast.”
Zakaria Sadeh, a West Bank field worker for the liberal Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights, said after yesterday’s attacks: “This is spreading. Police investigate but they don’t do enough to catch the culprits.”
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were doing everything possible to prevent and respond to such attacks.
“We’re looking to see if there is any connection between the Rammun and Beit Iksa attacks,” he said.
“But we are treating them as two separate incidents, with two investigations. These are criminal incidents with nationalistic motives.”
Right-wing Jewish extremists have long targeted West Bank sites, including mosques and Israeli military bases.
Israel’s domestic security service, Shin Bet, released figures on Sunday that showed Jewish hate crimes against Arabs in the West Bank had sharply increased in the first four months of this year.
There have been 13 “price tag” attacks against Palestinians so far this year, compared with eight for the whole of last year.