Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH — A group of extremist Jewish settlers on Sunday hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles near the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian sources said that the hurled stones at vehicles travelling on the highway connecting Nablus with the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar. The sources added that 25 vehicles were damaged as a result of settler vandalism. The sources added that Israeli soldiers had closed the Hewara and Za'tarah checkpoints south of Nablus as a result of the rock-throwing. The incident is the latest in a series of incidents against property belonging Muslims and Christians. 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. On August, unknown Jewish extremists punctured the tires of 6 vehicles belonging to Palestinian in occupied Jerusalem and spray-painted hate slogans against Arabs in a suspected “price tag” attack. “Price tag” refers to acts of vandalism and violence perpetrated by extremist Jewish settlers on Palestinians and their properties, Christian sites, Israeli and Arab left-wing activists in retaliation to the evacuation of West Bank settlements by Israeli forces. Also on August, the Israeli Deputy Attorney General Oren Pono said that Israel has spent tens of millions of shekels to combat the phenomenon of “price tag” attacks against Palestinians, Christians and leftist Israelis. The Israeli Radio quoted Pono as saying that “Israel has made and continues to make many efforts to eradicate violence, whatever they may be, including the directing of many state resources for coping with ideological crime against Palestinian residents and Israeli minority citizens, also known as price tag.” Pono added that the Israel established a special unit in the Israeli police at the cost of tens of millions of shekels to deal with the phenomenon. He said the 30-member force will grow to 80 by the end of the year. 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. Israeli media reports say that Israel's police and the Shin Bet have been struggling to bring the perpetrators of “price tag” attacks to justice and few indictments have been filed for those offenses. The past 18 months have seen 788 “price tag” cases opened, but charges were filed in only 154 of those cases, the top-selling Yediot Ahronot said.
