Israeli settlers have called for the murder of Palestinian bus drivers in the occupied West Bank. This comes as part of their acts of vandalism and violence, known as price tag attacks, against Palestinians and their property, as well as Muslim holy sites.
The Israeli extremists sprayed the racist graffiti “Kill Arab drivers” in the Modi’in Illit settlement between al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Tel Aviv early Thursday.
Other graffiti in West Bank warned “the destruction will not stop” until the Israeli Kavim bus company stops employing Arabs. The word “revenge” was also spray-painted on the back of a bus.
Israeli police said they have launched an investigation into the graffiti.
“The writing on the wall is clearer than ever. The day is not far when drivers will be injured, and it doesn’t matter which sector they come from,” Kavim said in a statement.
Separately, the coordinator of the Protection and Resistance Committee in the mountains of southern al-Khalil, Fouad al-Amour, said a group of Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family and forced them out of a cave they were using as a shelter in the village of Khirbet al-Tawamin.
Amour said the extremists attacked Barakat Morr and his family of seven, while Israeli forces were also involved in the attack.
Palestinian prime minister condemns ‘organized settler terrorism’ in West Bank
Also late Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the rise in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, calling them organized terrorism.
Shtayyeh said Israeli settlers had attacked and injured many Palestinians, including women and children, by hurling stones and Molotov cocktails into their homes and cars in several parts of the West Bank.
He called on the new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to intervene and put an end to the crimes, as the policies of former President Donald Trump have led to an increase in illegal settlement and expansion activities by the Tel Aviv regime, as well as settler attacks against Palestinians and their property.
The Palestinian prime minister also expressed hope that the Biden administration would implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 on Israel’s illegal settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory and oblige Israel, as the occupying regime, to fulfill its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Shtayyeh also called on the United Nations to take promising measures to protect Palestinians and stop price tag attacks.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements established since Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (al-Quds) in 1967. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
According to human rights groups, acts of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property occur daily throughout the occupied West Bank.
by Basit Abbasi – CCTV