Settlers: Arabs, leftists staged 'price tag' act

Palestinians, leftwing activists documented while sawing trees in bid to accuse settlers

Yair Altman
Israel News
Arabs and leftist activists staged an attack on Palestinian fields in a bid to accuse settlers of vandalism, an organization that claims to have documented the incident says. were made Saturday by Tazpit Unit members, an organization identified with the settlers which documents news events in the territories. Tazpit says that these staged attacks were meant to falsely accuse settlers of attacking Palestinian land.


The photos, taken by members of the Tazpit Unit, were shot on Palestinian land Friday, near the Neveh Tzuf settlement. The images allegedly show Palestinians and left-wing activists cutting down Palestinian olive trees using an electric saw.


Many so-called "Price Tag' acts targeting Palestinians were recorded in the last few weeks, and the settlers now claim they were staged by the Palestinians themselves and intended to harm the settlers' image.



Tazpit photographer Ehud Amiton, who documented the vandalism act on Friday, says that this is exactly what can be seen in his images.


Staged act of vandalism? (Photo: Ehud Amiton, Tazpit Unit)



"We are talking about an olive grove east of Beit Zayit, located near Route 60," Amiton said."I immediately saw that it was no ordinary pruning, it was done very aggressively...Some of the branches broke and other trees were cut off entirely. When I approached closer with my camera, the Palestinian man waved his saw at me threateningly. I felt uneasy so I backed off".



Tazpit unit director Amotz Eyal said that "during every olive harvest season, just like this one, there are many cases of Arab farmers cutting down olive branches, later blaming it on the settlers."



"Time after time photos prove that these Arabs are not holding back; they provoke in order to tarnish the image of Jewish settlers," he said.



Eyal vowed that Tazpit photographers will continue to document such activities in order to show the public actual events on the ground.