In 2011, after a price-tag attack against Kusra, Israeli graffiti stating “Mo is a pig” was found on the al-Nurayn Mosque of Kusra.
The Israel Defense Forces were on heightened alert in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) on Wednesday after two Palestinian vehicles were burned in the village of Madama south of Nablus. Graffiti was found near the cars reading “revenge for Esh Kodesh.”
The Madama graffiti referred to the destruction of 200 illegally planted olive trees in Esh Kodesh, an agricultural settlement in Samaria, by Israeli security forces on Tuesday.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon condemned price tag attacks—revenge violence committed by extremist Jewish individuals against Palestinians—as terror.
“The unacceptable trend known as ‘price tag’ is in my opinion terror in every sense of the word, and we are acting and will act against the perpetrators, firmly and with zero tolerance, in order to eradicate it,” he said. “It is a stain on Israel and it undermines the settlement enterprise.”
Across the political spectrum in Israel, Israeli leaders have denounced price-tag attacks.
“It is unconscionable that a Jew would harm something that is holy to another religion … We will not allow extremists and criminals to undercut the need to live together equally in equality and mutual respect,” President Shimon Peres said.
Arabs and Jews share the streets of Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, after the IDF destroyed the olive groves in Esh Kodesh, a violent run-in erupted between Jewish settlers from Esh Kodesh and Palestinian residents of the nearby village of Kusra.
In the incident, 14 Jewish settlers were protected by Kusra village elders from a violent mob lynching by P.A. Arabs, until the settlers were rescued by the IDF.
The elders intervened after the P.A. mob beat the settlers, according to a security source, who stated authorities are still investigating if the settlers intended to damage property in “a price-tag” attack. (Jerusalem Post)
One of the elders who intervened to prevent the captives from being killed, Ziad Odeh, a prayer leader in the village who was certain that the settlers were there to carry out a price tag attack, explained why he protected them:
“It’s wrong to kill a person; it doesn’t matter if they’re Jewish or Muslim.”
He said he was convinced of their guilt because they were carrying clubs and a sledgehammer and some had veiled their faces. (Times of Israel)
Olive trees in Samaria
The settlers who were almost lynched in Kusra deny that they were there to carry out a price-tag attack. In fact, they said they were dragged to Kusra by the mob.
“We left at midday from Esh Kodesh to the direction of the Hayovel neighborhood in Eli, and on the way we stopped in ancient Khirba,” said Pinhasi Brown, a resident of Esh Kodesh.
“We’ve taken this trip before in the past with women and babies. We have already tried several times to coordinate the trip with the military—this space is under Israeli control—but they never let us coordinate this trip with them,” he said.
The residents of Esh Kodesh earn their living from goat-herding and vineyards
Brown described it as a coordinated attack, saying he had called the army when a van of Arabs approached them as they were climbing toward Jebel.
“The Arabs came constantly—more and more—and outflanked us, throwing rocks at us. We tried to cut through Shvut Rachel, but they surrounded us three directions.”
“Two rocks were thrown at me and I was semi-conscious, I believe it would be like the lynching in Ramallah, and if the army came later there would be twenty bodies,” Brown said.
“Images of my children flashed before my eyes, and I knew that it would be all over in a few minutes,” he continued, saying, “The Arabs continued to beat us even after the IDF arrived.” (Arutz Sheva)
A street in the Old City of Jerusalem
This was only one of several violent incidents in Israel last week.
On Tuesday, in an unprovoked attack in the Old City of Jerusalem, several Arabs threw rocks at two women in the Jewish Quarter, then avoided capture by ducking into the city’s maze of alleyways.
Following the incident, Member of Parliament Reuven Rivlin said he believes the attack was meant to disrupt the ongoing peace negotiations, as “Jerusalem is a microcosm of the ability of Jews and Arabs to live together.” (Jerusalem Post)
“When extremists on both sides see even the possibility of finding understanding to bring an end to the conflict, they’ll do something to prevent it,” Rivlin said. “Without the idea that we can live together peacefully we will not bring an end to this conflict, and they are doing their best to prove that Arabs and Jews cannot live together.”
The multicultural streets of Jerusalem.
This latest outbreak of violence follows the release of the annual “Palestinian Incitement Index,” which was presented by Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz to the Israeli cabinet last Sunday.
Among other things, the study found evidence that official Palestinian Authority media outlets convey the message to the Palestinian public that Israel has no right to exist, and that the Jewish people have no claim to the Holy Land.
Not only are the Jewish People portrayed as subhuman creatures, but all kinds of resistance, including terror, are portrayed as legitimate means of achieving the final goal, a Palestinian state.
Beit Aryeh is a town in Shomron (Samaria).
It is not only Israelis who need to be rescued from Palestinian violence, however.
On Monday, a pair of P.A. Arabs took cover in a nearby Jewish community of Beit Aryeh, saying that a Palestinian hit squad was trying to kill them. The Israeli community provided them shelter as Israeli security forces went searching for the hit squad. (Jewish Press)
Coming across four P.A. Arabs who claimed to be members of a Special Forces unit, the Israeli security forces searched them and found a loaded weapon, which serves as a breach in peace agreements between the communities.
Nevertheless, Regional Council Head Avi Naim said that Beit Aryeh and the neighboring Arab village Luban are on good terms.
“We invite each other to communal events. We are interested in good neighborly relations with everyone,” he said.
