JERUSALEM (AP) – Suspects of Israeli settlers vandalized several vehicles belonging to Palestinian workers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday in broad daylight in an incident captured by security cameras.
It appeared to be the latest in a series of attacks called a “price tag”, in which hardline Israeli nationalists attack Palestinians and vandalize their property in response to attacks by Palestinian militants or efforts perceived by Israeli officials to limit settlement activity.
Images broadcast by the Israeli public broadcaster Kan showed about 10 people, all wearing hoods and masks, puncturing tires and smashing car windows parked near the West Bank Shiloh settlement.
Police spokeswoman Shlomit Bakshi said at least six vehicles had been damaged and that the police have launched an investigation into the incident. No suspects have been arrested.
She said earlier in the day the army and the border police had removed a structure erected without authorization from an illegal outpost nearby. Israeli media identified the site as Alei Ayin, a small, remote cluster of buildings not authorized by the Israeli government.
Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, said Alei Ayin’s illegal outpost was established in 2020 near the Shiloh settlement and the neighboring Palestinian village of Turmus Aya.
Brian Reeves, a spokesman for Peace Now, said there has been a marked increase in settler violence against Palestinians in recent months.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and began to colonize the newly conquered territory soon after. More than 600,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and in annexed East Jerusalem.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians, who seek the West Bank and East Jerusalem as part of a future independent state.