A group of Israeli settlers sneaked into Palestinian-owned land near an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank and spray-painted racist anti-Arab graffiti on the walls of agricultural greenhouses, a local farmer said on Sunday.
Tahseen Hamed, who owns one of the greenhouses, told WAFA news agency that the settlers also stole a donkey that belonged to him and his brother. He said the attack occurred in the vicinity of the Shufa checkpoint to the southeast of Tulkarem, a city in the northern West Bank.
The graffiti included slogans such as “Death to Arabs” and “Revenge.” The greenhouses are used to grow vegetables and herbs for local consumption and export.
Hamed said he filed a complaint with the Israeli occupation authorities, but he doubted that they would take any action against the perpetrators. He said this was not the first time that settlers had attacked his property and crops.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli occupation authorities. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Israeli settlers have damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 Palestinian-owned trees and vehicles since January 2023.
The latest attack comes amid rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians following a series of deadly attacks and raids by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank. The Israeli government has topped that by expanding and approving new settlement outposts on private Palestinian land, which are considered illegal under international law.
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