Israeli settlers damaged and vandalised Palestinian vehicles in a Jerusalem-area village in the central occupied West Bank, in what locals are calling a “price tag attack.”
Locals in the village of Beit Iksa said that Israeli settlers from the illegal Ramot settlement, which is built on lands of Beit Iksa, punctured the tires of several vehicles and spray painted “racist slogans” on them.
The attack, according to locals, took place before dawn on Wednesday in the Aqbat Zayid and al-Burj areas near the village.
Many Palestinian activists and rights groups have accused Israel of fostering a “culture of impunity” for Israelis committing violent acts against Palestinians.
Better known as “price tag” attacks, extremist Israeli settlers use violent acts of retribution on Palestinians and their property to demonstrate their opposition to Israeli restrictions on settlements and their outposts in the occupied West Bank.
Read: Israel settlers raid Nablus-area school
In March 2017, Israeli NGO Yesh Din revealed that Israeli authorities served indictments in only 8.2 percent of cases of Israeli settlers committing anti-Palestinian crimes in the occupied West Bank in the past three years.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were a total of 107 reported settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem in 2016. OCHA has recorded 56 such attacks since the beginning of the year.
First published on Albawaba, 17 January 20178