Palestinian property vandalized in 2 hate crimes in West Bank

JERUSALEM, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian cars were vandalized and racist slogans were spray-painted in two separate hate attacks against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early on Monday morning, the police said.

In the town of Rammun, east of Ramallah city, tires were slashed, the police said in a statement. Hate graffiti reading, "Let us take care of them" and "We'll take our fate into our own hands" were spray-painted on cars and a home facade.

In the village of Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, vehicles were vandalized and slogans were painted. According to photos released by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, the slogans included: "Fight the enemy, not your loved ones" and "Administrative revenge."

The latter slogan refers to several administrative arrest orders issued over the past weeks to ultra-nationalist activists following a sharp rise in hate crimes against Palestinians. An administrative arrest is an incarceration without a trail for an undefined period of time. Israel uses this measure primarily to arrest Palestinians, but with the increase in unsolved hate attacks, it is increasingly using it against far-right Jewish activists.

The police said the incidents are under investigations.

The recent attacks were the seventh time a Palestinian property was vandalized in such hate attacks.

Such attacks were dubbed by Israeli settlers "price tag attacks." They have been carrying out in "retaliation" to an eviction of Jewish outposts in the West Bank or arrests and convictions of ultra-nationalist activists.

On Sunday, the Shin Bet security service reported a surge in hate crime attack over the past months. Since the first four months of 2018, the Shin Bet documented 13 such attacks, after 2017 saw eight attacks throughout the entire year, the Shin Bet said in a statement.

Far-right Israelis have carried out thousands of the so-called "price tag" attacks over the past years. The attacks include violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel and vandalism of mosques, churches, cemeteries, and personal property. Most of the incidents remain unsolved as the law enforcement authorities usually fail to arrest and charge any suspects.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and had controlled it ever since, in a move denounced by the international community. Enditem