West Bank cars torched in possible 'price tag' attack

Three Palestinian cars were set ablaze overnight in the West Bank village of Beit Omar near Hebron and a house sprayed with graffiti, eyewitnesses and police said on Wednesday. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP the words "price tag" were sprayed on the wall, and said "police launched an investigation and were looking for suspects." According to eyewitnesses, "greetings from Bat Ayin" was also daubed on the wall. Bat Ayin is the name of a nearby Israeli settlement. Hardline Jewish settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they have attacked mainly Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements. On Tuesday, threatening graffiti was discovered in the stairwell of a block of flats in Jerusalem where Peace Now anti-settlement activist Hagit Ofran lives. It included the words "Rabin is waiting for you," in reference to prime minister Yitzak Rabin who was slain by a right-wing extremist in an attack whose 16th anniversary was being marked on Wednesday. The attackers also sprayed the words "price tag" and "revenge for Givat Assaf," in reference to an unauthorised settler outpost slated for demolition before the end of the year. Two months ago, similar "price tag" graffiti and the slogan "death to traitors" were sprayed outside Ofran's home, prompting a police inquiry, although the perpetrators were never caught. On Monday, Peace Now's offices were daubed with graffiti and subjected to a bomb hoax in what the group said was the second such incident in a week. Education Minister Gideon Saar strongly condemned the attacks in an address during a memorial service for Rabin on Wednesday. "The 'price tag' gangs that harass innocent people, damage property, attack Israeli soldiers and security forces, burn mosques and reign terror on political opponents are a violent and dangerous cancerous growth that must be uprooted," he said.