By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

HAWARA, West Bank – More than three hundred olive trees were uprooted during the night between April 13 and April 14 in the West Bank village of Hawara, reportedly by Jewish settlers. Two cars were also set on fire, and Stars of David and racist slogans in Hebrew were sprayed on buildings, including on the walls of a mosque in the village south of Nablus. An Israeli army spokesman told Army Radio that the Israeli military believed settlers were behind the destruction, possibly as part of a response to the Israeli government’s construction freeze on settlements in the West Bank.

Brigadier General Nitzan Alon, the Commander of the Israeli Defense Forces Judea and Samaria division, has reportedly launched an investigation into the incident, condemned the attacks, and has promised that “those responsible should be brought to justice,” according to an official statement. The statement also noted that the Israeli Civil Administration removed the graffiti from the mosque’s walls during the morning after the incident.

Hawara is also near the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar. In December 2009, settlers from Yitzhar were accused of setting fire to a mosque in the Palestinian village of Yusuf. A rabbi from Yitzhar was arrested in connection to the incident, but no charges were filed.

Some hard-line Jewish settlers have called the attacks on Palestinian villages the “price tag” for the construction freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank, put in place by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In response to news of the incidents in Hawara, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a spokesman for the right-wing Jewish National Front, said:

“We are talking about a hostile village that has been the source of a large number of violent attacks against the residents of Yitzhar…The time has come for the Arabs to understand that Jews are not suckers and that Jewish blood will not be shed without consequence.”

For their own part, Palestinian residents of Hawara have promised to re-plant their trees, some of which are hundreds of years old and have been tended for generations. Some grove owners have estimated that the damage to their trees will cost them thousands of dollars. Yet despite frequent disruption by Jewish settlers, the grove owners have said they will re-plant.

“If they uproot five acres of trees, we’ll plant six,” said Abu Hussein, a grove owner. “They won’t break us.”

For more information, please see:

Ma’an News Agency – Israel Army Condemns Mosque Vandalism – 15 April 2010

BBC News – Jewish Settlers Suspected in West Bank Mosque Attack – 14 April 2010

Ha’aretz – Mosque Vandalized as Settlers Attack Palestinian Village – 14 April 2010

Ha’aretz – No-one Saw, No-one Heard: 300 Palestinian Olive Trees Uprooted – 14 April 2010