Vehicles set aflame in 'Ara village price tag attack
Two vehicles were set on fire with the words 'price tag' sprayed on a nearby building; police suspect the attack was because of a protest tent erected in the village in support of Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike.
Unknown perpetrators set fire to two vehicles in the village of 'Ara early Wednesday, writing "price tag" on the wall of a nearby building.
Large police forces that were called to the scene and launched an investigation into the incident. No one was reported hurt in the attack.
Police suspect the price tag attack was carried out because of a protest tent erected in the village in support of the Palestinian security prisoners' hunger strike.
"This is a very serious incident," Sa'id Masrawa, a resident of the village, said. "Unfortunately, the criminals behind these attacks keep hurting us and there's no one to stop them. Two weeks ago they did this in Na'ura, and now they did the same here.
"We don't know what we can do. If the police won't find them, they could potentially even end up killing someone."
The owner of the vandalized house and vehicles, Asam Younes, recounted the attack.
"At about 2:30am, I heard a loud explosion. I opened the window and saw two of my cars on fire. I immediately left my house and managed to get the third car out of the way (of the fire)."
Younes said that he then noticed the price tag graffiti on the wall of his home.
"The local residents saw a vehicle wildly fleeing the scene," he added. He also said that "just a few days ago the residents saw a car driven by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the village," an admittedly unusual sight, though he said that they were still completely surprised by the attack and "did not expect this to happen."
"This is serious. Today they're damaging cars, (but) if authorities don't work professionally (to solve these cases), then it's very possible that tomorrow people could get hurt," Younes added.
Dozens of the village's residents who arrived at the scene denounced the attack, saying that price tag attackers should be severely dealt with. "We won't be silent about these actions. There need to be protests and a serious campaign until they catch these racist criminals who try to set the area aflame," said one of the residents.
Th incident in 'Ara is the latest in a string of price tag attacks. About two weeks ago, 20 vehicles parked in Jerusalem were vandalized, their tires punctured and graffiti sprayed on them reading "price tag."
That same day, nine vehicles were vandalized in the village of Na'ura as unknown perpetrators slashed their tires, writing "administrative revenge," "administrative price tag" and "Muhammad is an administrative pig" in graffiti on the walls nearby. Police suspect these acts were carried out as revenge for the 17 restraining orders imposed against members of the Hilltop Youths as a preemptive move amid fears that they would stoke up tensions in the wake of recent violent incidents that have beset the area.
Such violent incidents perpetrated by Jewish extremists include rock-throwing at Israeli security forces and at left-wing groups in Binyamin, clashes in the Palestinian town of Huwara and the burning of vehicles in Palestinian villages.
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
