Israeli vandals have launched a “price tag” attack against a Palestinian field in the occupied West Bank, uprooting dozens of olive trees, Israeli police says.
Israeli police spokeswoman Louba Samri said on Saturday that graffiti reading “price tag” was found at the site of the attack in the illegal settlement of the Gush Etzion in the south of East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
“Twenty-five olive trees were uprooted and sawn up in a field belonging to Palestinians near Bat Ayin,” Samri said.
Israeli settlers regularly launch price tag attacks against Palestinians.
Price tag attacks are acts of vandalism and violence against Palestinians and their property as well as Islamic holy sites.
The United Nations has recorded “399 attacks” of this kind by Israel’s illegal settlers, which have “resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage.”
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
NT/NN/AS
