Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Unknown extremist Jews on early Friday carried new “price tag” attacks against Palestinian property. Palestinian sources said that the assailants arrived at Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood after midnight and set fire to two vehicles in a parking lot. One vehicle sustained heavy damage, the sources said. The vehicles were owned by the Habash and Al-Dajani families. The sources added that graffiti reading “price tag” was found nearby. Israeli police suspect the act was racially motivated. Luba Simri, the spokesman of Israeli police, said that the Israeli army and police launched an investigation into the incidents. No arrests were reported. “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. Friday's price-tag attack is the newest one against Muslim and Christian properties and holy sites in Palestinian territories. On Thursday, unknown extremist Jews vandalized the Christian Orthodox cemetery in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Yaffa (Jaffa). Mohammed Ashqar, a member of the foundation and its representative in the city, said that the vandals sprayed graffiti that read “revenge” and “price tag” were written on headstones next to a Star of David. He added that “price tag” was also written on a nearby residential building, and the tires of five cars parked nearby were slashed. Last month, vandals spray-painted epithets on the outer walls of the Dormition Abbey, which is located just outside Jerusalem's Old City. Graffiti on the church's walls read “Christians are monkeys” and were signed “Havat Maon,” the name of a West Bank settlement outpost. Also on May, extremist Jewish settlers punctured the tires of three vehicles belonging to Palestinians in the Shu'fat refugee camp and sprayed graffiti in the area. The tires of four vehicles were also slashed in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Graffiti reading “Evyatar's revenge” was found nearby. The graffiti refers to a settler who was killed near Nablus in late April. 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.
