Alwaght- Any move that impedes promotion of extremist Israeli ideologies in the occupied Palestinian territories draws a price, and the Palestinians as the major victims must pay the price. The racist thinking and aversion to the Palestinians and the need to kill them and drive them out of their own territory make up the epicenter of the ideology of the extremist Israelis that founded the extremist Price Tag movement in 2008.
Price Tag movement, which so far declined to officially announce existence, beside the organized and official crimes of the Israeli troops has made heinous violations from which even the non-Muslim Palestinians suffered. The overt and covert backing for the extremist movement's measures has contributed to widening of range of activities of this terrorist group inside the Israeli regime.
One of the issues that since foundation of the Israeli regime has been a normal action of Tel Aviv is the unlimited crimes. Crimes that sometimes are so shocking that they even touch the conscience of the Israeli regime's allies. Along with the state organized crimes that Tel Aviv has committed during all these years, the recent years have witnessed appearance of a new type of atrocities. Atrocities that are conducted under Price Tag campaign which looks to be a spontaneous movement run by the extremist Jews of West Bank.
In addition to presenting a short description of the Price Tag, this report aims at bringing in spotlight the most significant measures of the extremist movement, as it at the same time seeks to shed light on the reactions and remarks of the Israeli officials to the behaviors of the movement.
What is Price Tag movement?
According to B'Tselem, the Israeli information center for human rights, the Price Tag campaign that was launched by a group of radical Jewish young settlers is a violence-based behavior aimed to reduce the Palestinian population and even the Christians in the West Bank. Price Tag's action sometimes includes clashes with the state security forces. According to The New York Times' definition, Price Tag movement is a campaign to face any anti-settlement measures, no matter it is from the West Bank Palestinians or the Israeli security forces. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal says that Price Tag term refers to a campaign that the Israeli young fundamentalists have launched in the West Bank territory against the Palestinians.
Foundation of Price Tag
Start of activity of Price Tag dates back to a large meeting that was arranged in late June 2008 by Israeli settlers in the Jewish settlement of Yatsar in western Nablus. The participants discussed their differences with their government about pressing ahead with settlement building. They also discussed a strategy that the Israeli settlers needed to implement in their dealing with the Israeli government's policies. The key aim of the meeting that was attended by hundreds of Zionist activists from different Jewish settlements of the West Bank was to confront the policies of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the settlement construction in West Bank. The attendees of June 2008 conference sought to prevent the process of removal of settlement hubs and houses that were constructed without government license in West Bank. The participants argued that they had to press their government to shift policy. They asserted that they must make the government pay the price of its anti-settlement moves. Therefore, the perpetrators of the anti-Palestinian operations take responsibility of their acts using the term Price Tag.
The terrorist Price Tag movement since its foundation up to now has conducted a slew of violent actions against the Palestinians, their sacred sites, as well as their properties and assets. The settler members of the extremist movement who also target Palestinians of 1948 occupied territories carry out an array of actions that include shooting at the Palestinians, assaulting the villages and Palestinian towns, cutting off the trees, torching the farms, cars, homes, mosques, churches, and destroying the Palestinian cemeteries.
Price Tag's Organizational structure
Ongoing actions and type and number of the measures the movement is taking show that it has a secret organized structure. The organizational structure is responsible for directing the terrorist actions of this secret movement, as at the same time it accurately sets up its objectives. There are teams inside it that are tasked with data collecting, planning, and implementing.
Nadav Shargai, the Israeli journalist who specializes in settlers and their activities said that the number of the participants in activities of Price Tag movement in 2008 goes beyond 3,000 settlers. A majority of them are students in religious schools and are settling in settlements that are home to most extremist Israelis.
Ideology of the movement
The Price Tag activists and their supporters are majorly holding racist ideologies that are based on aversion to the Palestinians. The movement demands its members to murder Palestinians or force them out of the occupied territories. It insists that settlement construction must go ahead strongly in West Bank. It wants speeding up the Judaization of the West Bank and annexing it to the occupied territories. The members of Price Tag are boastful of their racism, and openly publish their ideas in their books and newspaper articles. For example, two Israeli rabbis from the Israeli settlement of Yatsar named Ishaq Shapira and Joseph Yilitsor who are said to be the top leaders of Price Tag movement have published a book titled the King's Beliefs and Faiths in which they call for killing of the Palestinian women, men, elders, and children. The book was published in 2009.
Record of measures
As it was noted, the terror group since its foundation has committed a variety of crimes. For example, the Israeli police recorded 788 suspected actions of Price Tag movement between January 2012 and 2013. 276 cases led to arrests, and from this number 154 cases led to indictment.
If we want to focus on the most serious actions of the movement since its foundation, they are as follows:
On July 23, 2008, 20 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Bourin and set fire to several vehicles, broke the windows and cut off the power wires after the Israeli security forces evacuated illegal Jewish migrants and transferred them out by buses.
On December 4, 2008, the settlers responded using Price Tag approach after the security forces evacuated the migrants from their homes in Bayit HaShalom settlement in al-Khalil (Hebron). They killed 3 Palestinians, injured 12 others, and set fire to 15 Palestinian cars. This was not the end of the story, however. The settlers in 12 other areas of West Bank vandalized Palestinian properties, cut their olive trees, and flattened tires of the Palestinians' cars.
On June 1, 2009, the Israeli settlers responded to the warning by the Israeli army to evacuate the Ramat Gilad military base. They blockaded the Qalqilya-Nablus main road close to Kedumim settlement and threw stones at the Palestinian passing cars, leading to injury of 6 drivers. They also set fire to 1300 olive trees and 280 Dunams of the grain farms belonging to the Palestinian villagers.
On July 20, 2009, the Israeli officials destroyed a couple of empty houses in the Jewish settlement near Ramallah and Nablus. Reacting to the move, the Israeli settlers destroyed 1500 olive trees in the Palestinian villages of Tel, Bourin, Madma, Jait, and Asira. They also blocked the roads ahead of the Palestinian cars and threw stones at them. They injured two Palestinian drivers.
On September 20,2009, when the Israeli forces removed the makeshift camps in Ramat Herschel settlement in al-Khalil, over 10 furious settlers from Susiya settlement stormed the neighboring Palestinian village and started throwing stones at the villagers. As a result, 15 Palestinians including 10 children were injured. The assault ended after intervention of the Israeli security forces. But none of the settlers were detained.
On December 9, 2009, Hasan Khezer Mosque in Yousof village near Selfit settlement was torched. The Price Tag slogans was written on the walls of the mosque. Although on January 2010 some settlers from Yitraj settlement were arrested and accused of involvement, they were freed after questions.
On May 4, 2010, the Israeli settlers attacked the main mosque in village of Eastern Al-Leban in southern Nablus and burned all of its carpets and holy Qurans.
On May 12, 2010, the extremist settlers torched an olive farm in Al-Rababah in Silwan neighborhood within an area of 11,000 square meters. During the event three 300-year-old olive tree were burned to ashes.
On October 25, 2010 the illegal settlers of Havat Gilad set fire to a 500,000 square meters of olive garden in Farata village as part of measures to make the Palestinians pay the price. According to the eyewitnesses, the Israeli forces blocked passage of fire engines to the burning site. They, reportedly, disallowed the firefighting measures by the local people.
In October 2010, the settlers set fire in a class at a girls school in Savya neighborhood, and also beat a schoolgirl.
On July 25, 2011, when the Israeli peace activists stymied uprooting of the trees by the Israeli settlers, they in a retaliatory move burned the farms of Soura village in Nablus.
On September 5, 2011, the settlers responded to destruction of three illegally-built houses in the village of Migron and torched Qassra Mosque in southern Nablus.
On September 9, 2011, the Israeli settlers spray-painted racist slogans in Hebrew on the walls of Amir Hussein Mosque in Birzeit town and also Birzeit University walls close to Ramallah in West Bank. The slogans read "death to the Arabs."
On September 13 and 14, 2011, Nebi Akasha Mosque in Al-Quds.
On September 14 and 15, 2011, the mosque in the Palestinian village of Barqaa close to Nablus was torched and destroyed.
On December 8, 2011, Bani Naim Mosque in eastern al-Khalil was torched by settlers and racist slogans were written on the walls.
Furthermore, in 2012, 623 cases of attacks by Price Tag were documented. From this number only 200 cases resulted in arrests, and only 123 detainees were indicted on their charges. 56 attacks conducted by Price Tag majorly against the Palestinians took place in Al-Quds. 12 assailants were detained but no case of indictment was reported.
On January 11, 2012, the settlers of Price Tag movement destroyed a mosque in Palestinian village of Lestia in West Bank. They spray-painted drawings with Price Tag themes on the walls of the mosque. They, furthermore, set fire to three cars as a retaliatory act to destruction of an illegal border camp near Itamar settlement in West Bank.
On February 7, 2012, a bilingual school– Hebrew and Arabic– in Al-Quds which is a symbol of coexistence of the Arabs and the Jewry was destroyed by the Israelis. Also, the radical Jews destroyed an ancient convent that was administered by the Greek Orthodox Church. There were also spray-paintings on the wall that read: “death to the Arabs and death to the Christians."
On February 20, 2012, the Israelis spray-painted on the walls of Narkis Street in Al-Quds. The slogans read: “death to the Christianity, Jesus Christ is dead, and Mary Virgin was a prostitute.
On June 19, 2012, a big mosque was torched in Jabaa village in West Bank. They wrote on the walls “the war has begun, Price Tag" in protest of evacuation of the Jewish settlement of Alpana.
On September 4, 2012, a Christian convent was torched in Lateran settlement. The slogans on the wall read" Jesus Christ is a monkey and bastard."
From January to November 2013, 120 attacks were conducted by the Price Tag members against the Arabs only in northern West Bank. These moves motivated Palestinians to give retaliatory responses to the settlers. For example, while in 2012 no Israeli settlers were killed, the riled Palestinians killed only up to November 2013 killed 4 Israelis. Additionally, from January to June 2013, 163 cases of Price Tag attacks were reported. 76 people were arrested and 31 of them were indicted on their charges.
On February 21, 2013, according to B'Tselem the radical Jews set fire to 6 Palestinian cars in the village of Qusra. The incident drew concerns of Salam Fayyad, then prime minister of Palestine. Fayyad attributed the crime to the Price Tag movement.
On April 7, 2013, the settlers destroyed two mosques in Tekoaa village in West Bank after a Palestinian children threw stones in the Israeli settlement of Ariel.
On October 10, 2013, 20 extremist settlers attacked the Palestinian elementary school of Jaloud and damaged 5 cars of the teachers. They then set fire to olive gardens around the school, resulting in burning of 400 olive trees.
From January to mid-May 2014, the Israeli police recorded 78 cases related to actions of Price Tag movement. 102 suspects were detained and 37 of them received their indictment.
On January 15, 2014, the mosque in Deir Istiya village near Ariel settlement was torched. There were also slogans on the wall that read: "revenge, Arabs must go, long live Caesarea, and revenge for bloods shed in Caesarea.
On March 11, 2014, tires of Palestinian cars were flattened in Qalqilya, and spray-painted on the walls" every Arab is a criminal."
On April 2014, the doors of the Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Mosque in Umm Faham village were torched, and the slogans on the walls read:" Arabs must go."
On May 9, 2014, the settlers wrote anti-Christian slogans on the walls of St. George Orthodox church in Al-Quds. They read:" David is king of the Jews and Jesus Christ is rubbish."
On July 2, 2014, a Palestinian child was hit hard after being kidnapped by three settlers. He was then burned to death.
On November 29, 2014, a bilingual school was demolished in a neighborhood in Al-Quds. The writing on its walls read: “you can't coexist with cancer, and death to the Arabs. Following the incident 3 activists from right-wing Lehava group were detained. They confessed to their role in fires. Mother of one of the Israeli detainees in an interview said that it was disgusting to see Arabs and Jews learn to coexist.
On February 25, 2015, the settlers torched the Al-Jabaa Mosque in western bet Lahem. Their slogans on the wall demanded massacring of the Palestinians and Arabs and taking revenge on them.
On February 26, 2015, the Greek Orthodox religious school was torched near Jaffa Gate in Al-Quds. The writing on the walls read" Jesus Christ is a bastard."
On June 17, 2015, the settlers flattened tires of 28 cars belonging to the Palestinians of Abu Ghoush neighborhood in Al-Quds and wrote racist slogans on the cars as well as the walls.
One June 30, 2015, the settlers set fire to farms of the village of Einabous in Nablus' south. The fire damaged a large part of them.
On July 18, 2015, the extremist Jews stormed a church in Tabgha close to Galilee region and burned it and wrote on the walls that the false gods will be eliminated. Police arrested 16 young settlers in connection with the incident. But they were allowed to go after interrogation.
On July 31, 2015, a 3-month-old Palestinian infant named Ali Asaad Dawabsa along with 3 members of his family was killed after their house in Duma near Nablus was torched. The extremist Jews left slogans on the walls which read:" Price Tag and revenge."
The attack came in reaction to destruction of the illegally-built houses in Beit El settlement by the terror hardline group of Hilltop Youths.
How the Israeli officials react
When Ehud Olmert was prime minister, the Israeli regime took no steps against the Price Tag movement. Rather, it stopped all processes that aimed to halt settlement construction in West Bank. Following Olmert government came the government of PM Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2009. The activities of the movement during this time saw an extraordinary expansion because Netanyahu’s cabinet failed to press them. Some ministers of the government even spurred them to go ahead.
Some Israelis, however, asked the government to stand ahead of the Price Tag and announce it a terror movement. But Netanyahu on June 16, 2013 rejected calls for outlawing the movement. He only said that Price Tag was an illegal movement. He said that declaring the movement a terror group would damage the Israeli picture worldwide. Netanyahu argued that the move could promote a sense of illegitimacy of the Israeli regime and so the world community would compare the measures of Price Tag movement to the Hamas rockets.
As it was predicted, Netanyahu’s rejection of blacklisting Price Tag as a terrorist group has encouraged the movement to intensify attacks and so day by day add to their crimes. The continued their crimes until summer 2015. But the crime of the movement in the village of Duma was so shocking that the Israeli officials in both left and right parties had no way but to yield to the public opinion and so they condemned the crime in which they were the major culprits.
Such right-wing politicians as Netanyahu, the Education Minister Naftali Bennett, and Moshe Ya'alon, the former defense minister recognized the attack as a terrorist act and condemned the Price Tag movement. But they also accused the Palestinians of provocative behavior. They said that violence of the Palestinians pushed the settlers to seek retaliation.
On the other side were the leftists and moderates like Isaac Herzog, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, the leader of Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid, Tzipi Livni, have condemned the crime and called it a working blow to the body of the so-called democracy in the Israeli regime. They tied such attacks to traitors who are "fifth column" of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. They also blamed such crimes on the mistakes of Netanyahu-led right-wing government.
In fact, Price Tag movement that has direct and indirect support from the Israeli institutions and political parties is a symbol of racism and violence of the radical Israeli community. It is active in West Bank and even 1948 territories. It targets the Palestinians, Christians, army, and security forces of the Israeli regime. It seeks acceleration of settlement process and pushing the Palestinians out of their homes. Its actions range from shooting at the Palestinians and attacking their villages to torching mosques and churches. These crimes sometimes are committed against the Palestinians in retaliation to the army and government evacuation of the illegally-built Jewish homes in West Bank.
