RAMALLAH – Israeli vandals early Wednesday carried two “price tag” attacks in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israeli and Palestinian sources said. The Israeli police said that the vandals spray painted hate slogans on a wall of the Monastery of The Cross in central Jerusalem and punctured the tires of three cars in the parking lot. The graffiti included the slogans “price tag,” “Happy Hannukah (Festival of Lights), the Maccabees will succeed.” “Price tag” refers to acts of vandalism and violence perpetrated by extremist Jewish settlers targeting Palestinians in the West Bank but also Christian sites, usually carried out in retaliation to the evacuation of West Bank settlements by Israeli forces. Israeli police have made no arrests in the incident, despite creating a special investigation team earlier in the year to deal with price tag attacks. Israel's police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were alerted to the incident early in the morning. He said the police have no leads but the investigation is continuing. It was the second time in the past year that the monastery, built in the 11th century, had been targeted by “price tag” activists. The monastery's Abbot Claudio Tapas said the damage was “very upsetting,” but that the monastery was nonetheless still a “symbol of peace.” “We believe in peace, and I forgive those who did this, this time and also the first time,” he said, before wishing “everyone a happy Hannukah.” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat condemned the vandalism. “We cannot abide such extreme, deplorable phenomena whose sole purpose is to damage coexistence in Jerusalem, and they must be eradicated,” Barkat said. This is the fifth apparent price tag attack against Christian sties in the past year. Other incidents occurred at the Latrun Monastery, the Historical Baptist Church and the Dormition Abbey church. In additional “price tag” attack West Bank, extremist vandals torched a car belonging to Palestinians in the village of Shoqba, to the west of Ramallah. The words “price tag” were spray-painted nearby. Israeli police opened an investigation into the incident, but have yet to make any arrests. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, there are more than 800,000 Jewish settlers who live with some 3.5 million Palestinians. Tension has been always on between the two sides that usually turn into violence. The Palestinians want the two areas as part of their independent state. The attacks comes two weeks days after United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution recognizing Palestine within the 1967 borders as a nonmember observer state. Israel lashed out in response by stopping the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority and approving plans to build the 3,000 settler homes in Jerusalem and West Bank settlements.
