Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Jewish settlers on Saturday set fire to an olive grove a new “price tag” attack near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, a Palestinian source said. Mohammed Ali Hamdan, the coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in south Bethlehem, said that the settlers set fire to an olive grove in the village of al-Jab'ah, to the southwest of Bethlehem. Hamadan said that some 450 olive trees were burnt in the grove, located in the Heilat Qaddis to the east of the village. He added that the trees were owned by families of Ali Hamdan, Ibrahim Abdulmajeed and Hamdan Hamdan. He added that the Israeli soldiers barred the Palestinian Fire Department from reaching the village to extinguish the fire. The coordinator notified that the “Jewish settlers intensified their attacks against Palestinians and their agricultural lands which aims at displacing its owners and confiscating them for the expansion of Jewish settlement of Gva'ot.” “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. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, there are more than 800,000 Jewish settlers who live with some 3.5 million Palestinians. The Palestinians want the two areas as part of their independent state. Tension has been always on between the two sides that usually turn into violence. The Israeli Political-Security Cabinet recently strengthened law enforcement authorities' ability to combat the growing phenomenon of “price tag” attacks by declaring their perpetrators an “illegal association.” However, it did not classify the attacks as acts of terror and those involved as terrorists, despite the recommendations of the Israeli attorney general, the head of the and the ministers of justice and internal security. The new measures include stiffer sentencing and lengthier prison terms.
