Price tag policy

Main article: Israeli settler violence

Price tag policy (Hebrew: מדיניות תג מחיר) is, according to B'Tselem, the name given to "acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces"[1] by radical Israeli Jewish settlers, who, according to the New York Times, "exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise".[2][3][4] The Wall Street Journal states that the term refers to "a campaign of retribution by fundamentalist Israeli youths against Palestinians in the West Bank".[5] This campaign includes attacks on Palestinian villages and property by Jewish extremists as retaliation for terrorist attacks on Israeli targets and for government demolition of structures at West Bank settlements and the removal of outposts which are variously described as being either unauthorised or illegal, [6][7][8][7][9][10][11] or curbs on Israeli construction in the West Bank[12][13]

Shin Bet estimates of the extent of the perpetrator group vary: one figure calculates that from several hundred to about 3,000 people implement the price tag policy,[14] while a recent analysis sets the figure at a few dozen individuals, organized in small close-knit and well-organised cells[15] and backed by a few hundred right-wing activists.[16]

The "Price tag" incidents include demonstrations, blocking of roads, vandalism of Palestinian property, violent attacks carried out against random Palestinian civilians, burning of mosques and fields, stone throwing, uprooting trees, making incursions into Palestinian villages and land,[17] damaging the property, or injuring members of the Israeli police and the Israeli Defense Forces, and defacing the homes of left-wing activists.[18]

The roots of the Price tag policy were traced to the August 2005 dismantling of settlements in the Gaza Strip as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. Ever since then, extreme right wing settlers have sought to establish a "balance of terror," in which every state action aimed at them generates an immediate violent reaction.[19]

The "price tag" concept and violence have been publicly rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu[20] and many people across the political spectrum in Israel have denounced recent incidents, such as arson of a mosque.[21] Cabinet member Benny Begin stated: “These people are scoundrels, but we have not been terribly successful in catching them.”[22] According to Reuters, there was a 57% upswing in such attacks in the first seven months of 2011. No charges have yet been brought against suspects in price tag incidents.[23] The settler leadership have "fiercely condemned" the price tag policy,[24] and the vast majority of Yesha rabbis have expressed their reservations about it.[25] According to Shin Bet, the vast majority of the settlers also reject such actions.[26] In September 2011 the Shin Beit advised the government to withhold funding from one yeshiva, Od Yosef Chai in the settlement of Yitzhar, on the basis of intelligence reports that its rabbis encourage students to attack Arabs, including 'price tag' assaults.[27]

According to a Ynet-Gesher survey conducted in March 2011, following the massacre of five family members in the Jewish settlement of Itamar, it was found that 46% of Israelis believe that “price tag” attacks are justified to a certain extent. A breakdown of attitudes among religious-national and ultra-orthodox respondents revealed that a large majority are supportive of such price-tag attacks, with 70% of Orthodox and 71% of religious nationalist Jews surveyed justifying the policy.[28]

In some cases, Israeli settlers have claimed that Palestinians and leftwing activists staged "price tag" attacks as a means of provocation, in an attempt to tarnish the image of Jewish settlers in the West Bank.[29][30][31][32]

Contents

Definitions

According to B'tselem, the expression was coined by settlers and came into currency around the middle of 2007, when it was explained to the media as referring to the price Israeli security forces would be made to pay in the event of government actions against their infrastructure. Harm to Palestinians subsequent to such official actions would be one consequence, and would be a display of good citizenship by assisting the police in enforcing building laws also against the Palestinians in areas inhabited by settlers.[33] An OCHA analysis in late 2009 defined it as "a new pattern" within the strategy of ongoing settler violence since the 1980s, and one that emerged during 2008, which "entails the exertion of systematic, widespread and indiscriminate violence against Palestinian civilians and Israeli security forces, following attempts by the Israeli authorities to evacuate settlement outposts. The overall objective of this strategy is to deter the Israeli authorities from removing such outposts. In the immediate term, the “price tag” strategy aims at diverting Israeli forces and troops from the scene of an outpost evacuation into other areas requiring the intervention of those forces to contain violent incidents."[34] Among its perpetrators the price tag policy is apparently also known as "mutual responsibility" ("ערבות הדדית": Arvut Hadadit),[6] by which is meant the collective effort needed to block the evacuation of settler outposts.[35] In March 2011, settlers at the Givat Ronen outpost near Har Bracha used it to define Israeli government actions against them. After causing extensive damage to police vehicles and throwing rocks at police officers entering the settlement to arrest a suspect, they charged that the police response, the use of pepper spray and the arrests that followed, were an example of a government "price tag policy", exacted in revenge against the whole community.[36] Sarah Kreimer uses the phrase to describe Prime Minister Netanyahu's go-ahead for the construction of the settlement of Har Homa over the Green Line in 1997, which was, she argues, 'a kind of “price tag” for Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Hebron.'[37] Settler Benny Katzover described Brigadier General Nitzan Alon was spitting on the rule of law and engaged in a 'price tag' operation when he called on the US Congress not to freeze aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to the unilateral PA statehood bid.[38]Gideon Levy describes as a 'price tag' Israeli government measures to expand settlements in response to the Palestinian bid for recognition by UNESCO and the United Nations.[39]

According to an article in Ynet news, price tag policy acts are now officially classified under the category of "nationalistic crime".[40]

Characterization as terrorism

Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon warned at the end of his term in October 2011 that “the extremist minority is capable of intensifying the operations that we call 'price tag,' but in effect amount to terrorism”.[41] Israeli journalist Yossi Melman has described the term "price tag" as a settlers' euphemism, adding that "The truth has to be stated. What the settlers are doing to their Palestinian neighbors is terrorism in every sense of the word." [42] A Haaretz editorial likewise argued that the innocent-sounding label is doing service to describe what it called 'abominable acts' in a 'wave of terror'.[43]

History of the price tag policy

According to the military correspondent of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz Amos Harel, the roots of the policy go back to Ariel Sharon's policy of disengagement from Gaza in August 2005 and the demolition in 2006 of the illegal settlement at Amona.

The Kahane Chai member and IDF soldier Eden Natan-Zada's gunning down of Israeli Arabs on a bus in the town of Shfar'am, in which four Arabs were killed and twenty-two were wounded, took place on the 4th of August 2005, just before the Gaza evacuation, and has been interpreted as a possible price-tag assault aimed at provoking riots that would make the IDF too busy to execute the evacuation on the Gaza Strip.[44] Later that same year, Asher Weisgan of the Shiloh settlement murdered 4 Palestinians in a similar protest at the withdrawal from Amona.[45]

According to Harel, since the Gaza and Amona withdrawals

"the extreme right has sought to establish a "balance of terror," in which every state action aimed at them - from demolishing a caravan in an outpost to restricting the movements of those suspected of harassing Palestinian olive harvesters - generates an immediate, violent reaction."[46]

In July 2008, after the evacuation of a bus from the Israeli outpost of "Adi Ed" (עדי עד), followed by clashes between settler groups with Palestinians and the IDF, settler Itay Zar from the Israeli outpost of "Havat Gilad" referred to the policy as such: "Whenever an evacuation is carried out - whether it is a bus, a trailer or a small outpost - we will respond."[47] In an article published in May 2010, Zar explained that this is a legitimate struggle which includes mainly the blocking of intersections and roads in order to disrupt the regular operations of Israeli security forces, preventing them from demolishing settler houses. Zar referred to the criminal activity involved in these actions as "marginal and uncontrolled acts."[48] In the wake of the dismantlement of Noam Federman's farm outside Hebron in October 2008, opponents of the evacuation called for revenge attacks against the security forces, telling soldiers: "you should all be defeated by your enemies, you should all become (kidnapped soldier) Gilad Shalit, you should all be killed, you should all be slaughtered, because that's what you deserve", and set a price tag on the event by stoning soldiers and local Palestinians, wounding 2 border poliemen, vandalizing cars, and destroying graves in a Muslim graveyard.[49]

Price tag operations were originally envisaged as mobilizing actions by settlers throughout the West Bank - retaliating in the north when outposts in the south were threatened with dismantlement, and exacting a price in the south when outposts risked removal in the north. However, by 2009, though considerable damage was wrought to Palestinian property and persons, a coordinated north-south campaign still hadn't been realised. Price attacks could, furthermore, also be triggered purely on the basis of an announcement of government measures or by rumours of an imminent evacuation.[50]

The acts of random violence generally follow actions by Israeli authorities that are perceived as harming the settlement enterprise, or follow Palestinian violence against settlers. "Price tag" acts include demonstrations, blocking of roads,[51] clashes with Israeli security forces and even attacks against Israeli security forces personnel. Usually, however, the term refers to carried out by radical right-winged Israeli activists against Palestinians and their property. These include throwing stones at Palestinian cars, the torching of Palestinian fields and orchards, as well as the destruction and uprooting of trees belonging to Palestinians.

According to Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din, "The goal is to create a price for each evacuation, causing the Israeli authorities to think twice about carrying them out."[52] A September 2011 article in The Economist suggested that one motive for these attacks might be to instigate violent Palestinian reaction, because the settlers are better-armed and believe that they could defeat the Palestinians.[53]

Towards the end of 2009, following an Israeli government decision to freeze any Israeli construction in the West Bank for a period of 10 months, several suspicious attacks were carried out in the West Bank,[54] including the suspected arson of a mosque in the Palestinian town of Yasuf, during which graffiti was sprayed on a building saying "Prepare for the price tag". The Shin Bet estimates of the extent of the perpetrator group vary: one figure calculates that from several hundred to about 3,000 people implement the price tag policy,[55] while a recent analysis sets the figure at a few dozen individuals backed a few hundred right-wing activists.[16] The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say. They are organized in small close-knit and well-organised cells.[15]

A 2009 summary report published by the Israeli police stated that during 2009 there was a decline in these types of attacks.[56] According to a report of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published in November 2009, if Israel were to begin evacuating settlements in the West Bank, 248,700 Palestinians living in 83 communities would be exposed to this policy, of which 22 communities with 75,900 inhabitants would be at high risk.[57]

According to Yesh Din, which monitored a selection of incidents over 4 years, Israel Police did not file a single indictment following 69 cases that included price tag operations, where thousands of olive trees were burnt down between 2005 and 2009.[58][59]

Allegations of staged price tag attacks

Settlers have at times claimed that Palestinians cut down trees on their own land and blame settlers.[32][60][61] In some cases it was indeed discovered that the settlers were falsely accused of carrying out price tag attacks.[62] In addition, allegations have also been raised against several media organizations who have classified certain incidents, in which there were no suspects and no charges were filed, as "Price Tag" attacks, while similar attacks carried out against Israelis are not classified similarly.[63]

In May 2011 the Israeli police arrested several members of the Israeli-Arab Bakri family from Jaffa under the suspicion of plotting to kill an Imam in the Hassan Bek Mosque in Jaffa, due to a business dispute. The murder was intended to appear as a "Price Tag" attack carried out by Israeli right-wing activists.[64]

Israeli reactions

Official Israeli reactions

The "price tag" policy has also been denounced by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many people across the political spectrum in Israel.[66][67] Former Knesset member and settler leader Hanan Porat has also condemned the price tag policy. "The ‘price tag’ response is immoral," Porat said. "It’s unheard of that one needs to burn the vineyards and fields of Arabs. It’s immoral ... and it gives legitimacy to those who are interested in undermining the outpost issue. It's a very grave matter."[68]

In 2008, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert condemned settlers in Hebron who attacked Palestinians and their property, referring to the attacks as a "pogrom". He said, "I am ashamed that Jews could do such a thing," and that he has ordered the defense minister and other relevant elements to "do all it takes, with all the strength needed and in any place controlled by the State of Israel, in order to stop this phenomenon." He promised authorities will take "aggressive action" to bring those responsible to justice.[69]

The burning of a mosque at the Bedouin town Tuba-Zangariyye on 3 October 2011 shocked Israelis, as many Bedouins, including those from this village, serve in the Israeli army. The Israeli President Shimon Peres, accompanied by Israel’s two chief rabbis, visited the mosque, and after surveying the damage stated he was "full of shame". Peres also stated that the mosque burning is "an un-Jewish act." In denouncing the attack he added: "It is unconscionable that a Jew would harm something that is holy to another religion ... We will not allow extremists and criminals to undercut the need to live together equally in equality and mutual respect."[65][70] During the visit, the chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar, and chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, jointly condemned the act and conveyed a message of reconciliation to the village residents. Amar said that he saw it as his duty to set a personal example for the respect one must show to places holy to different religions. He stresses that in lieu of proof, the act may have not been committed by Jews, and the attempt to ascribe the act to price tag activists may be in fact a blood libel. He also added that if the arsonist was in fact Jewish – he was subject to some of the Jewish laws of Dinei Rodef.[71]

Support and opposition among the Israeli public

The settler leadership have "fiercely condemned" the "price tag" attacks, against either Palestinians or Israeli security forces[24][73] A Haaretz editorial expressed scepticism over Yesha declarations, asserting that the response of condemnation to an earlier episode was marked by 'feigned and hypocritical shock'.[74] Some settler leaders who have publicly expressed their opposition to some price tag incidents include Danny Dayan, Chairman of the Yesha Council,[75] and Pinhas Wallerstein, former secretary general of the Yesha Council.[76]

Elyakim Haetzni,[77] an Israeli lawyer, pro-settlement activist and former right wing politician, wrote that price tag is "an infuriating term in terms of both morality and logic", and called it a "despicable method".[77]

Former mayor of Kedumim Daniella Weiss, whom senior political and military figures reportedly believed was behind much of the settler violence classified as price tag actions after the evacuation of Beit HaShalom,[78] is on record as rejecting the policy, saying that it had diverted settlers from what she considered to be their most important task - setting up additional caravans and tents to lay claim to ever more hilltops in the West Bank.[79] She stated that the only "price tag" action acceptable to her is the establishment of a new outpost in response to every outpost that had been demolished by Israeli authorities.[80]

According to a Ynet-Gesher survey conducted in March 2011, it was found that 46% of Israelis believe that “price tag” attacks are justified to a certain extent. A breakdown of attitudes among religious national and ultra-orthodox respondents revealed that a large majority are supportive of such price-tag attacks, with 70% of Orthodox and 71% religious nationalists Jews surveyed justifying the policy.[28] Ori Nir of Peace Now evaluated the poll as indicating significant support for violent actions among the Israeli public, yet estimated that it is likely that the timing of the poll influenced the respondents' views. Israelis were still under the influence of the Fogel family massacre, when five Jewish family members, including young children, were massacred in their beds on a Sabbath.[6]

In a recent analysis Zeev Sternhell argues that while the vast majority in Israel is disgusted by these attacks, and the right is distancing itself from those torching mosques, there is little evidence that they condemn the daily harassment of Palestinians by settlers. The "price tag hooligans" are, he maintains, 'the vanguard of the entire settlement movement settler' and 'are increasingly reminiscent of phenomena in Europe in the interwar period.'[81]

Support and opposition among Israeli Rabbis

The vast majority of Yesha rabbis and settlers reject it and/or have expressed their reservations of it,[83][84] both on moral grounds, prohibiting harm to innocent people and due to the Halachic prohibition which such actions, and on practical grounds, due to the fear that such acts are actually harmful to the settlement movement in the West Bank.[85][86]

Rabbis who have publicly expressed their opposition include Yuval Cherlow,[87]Haim Druckman,[82] Nahum Rabinovich,[88] Shlomo Aviner,[89] Aharon Lichtenstein,[90] Yaakov Medan,[91] Eliakim Levanon,[92] Avichai Rontzki,[93] Menachem Froman,[94] Elchanan Ben-Nun,[95] Benny Lau,[96] Samuel Reiner[97] and Haim Navon.[98]

According to the Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai, there is no Israeli leader or rabbi who openly supports this policy, yet some of the young activists who carry out these acts are students of the rabbis Yitzchak Ginsburgh, David Dudkavich and Yitzhak Shapira, who head the "Od Yosef Chai" Yeshiva in the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar. In an interview on Galei Tzahal in February 2010, Ginsburgh explicitly called to refrain from violence against Palestinians.[99] Shapira, while urging a "fierce defense" of outposts, holds the IDF responsible for the atmosphere in which such acts are undertaken, and for implementing a price tag policy against the yeshiva.[100] Shapira, who has called for retaliatory attacks against Palestinians, was arrested in January 2010 for his alleged involvement in the torching of a Palestinian mosque. He denied any involvement, and was released due to lack of evidence.[101][102]

In July 2011, police announced that they would question prominent rabbis Dov Lior and Ya'akov Yosef over whether their endorsements of Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur's book, Torat Hamelech (The King's Torah) which argues that killing non-Jews is acceptable as part of a religious war, constituted an incitement. Security officials said that the book could be used by settlers to justify price tag retributive attacks on Palestinians.[103]

The rabbi of Har Brakha, Eliezer Melamed, who according to Chaim Levinson of Haaretz, is considered one of the more extreme settler rabbis, used his weekly column in the newspaper "Basheva" to denounce the price tag policy. He wrote, "We don't aspire to private vengeance, but to state vengeance led by the Israel Defense Forces and all the systems of government".[104]

According to rabbi Barry Leff of the Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights, the price tag policy is forbidden by halacha (Jewish religious law). Citing Deuteronomy 24:16, he writes that the Torah clearly forbids vicarious punishment, punishing someone other than the offender. Furthermore, according to Leff, when the perpetrators attack a mosque, a house of God, they are also guilty of violating the principle of Bal tashkhit, not to carry out wanton destruction, as well as the sin of Chillul Hashem, the desecration of God’s name.[105]

Palestinian reactions

A Palestinian Authority spokesman, Ghassan Khatib has stated that Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian agricultural land are “not random events”, and that they are “condoned and supported by the Israeli government” who provide settlers with “full impunity and army protection while they destroy Palestinian land”.[106]

International reactions

List of incidents reported as, or suspected to be, price tag attacks

Police investigations

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ B'tselem, Background on violence by settlers,' 2011:'In recent years, settlers have carried out violent acts under the slogan “price tag.” These are acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces.'
  2. ^ Isabel Kershner, Mosque Set on Fire in Northern Israel, at New York Times, 3 October 2011:'The attack followed a series of similar assaults on mosques in the West Bank by arsonists suspected of being radical settlers as part of a campaign known as “price tag,” which seeks to exact a price from local Palestinians for violence against settlers or from Israeli security forces for taking action against illegal construction in Jewish outposts in the West Bank.'
  3. ^ Uri Friedman, The 'Price Tag' Menace: Vigilante Israeli Settler Attacks Spread, at The Atlantic Wire, 3 October 2011:'The New York Times defines price tag attacks as incidents in which radical Jewish settlers "exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise".'
  4. ^ Ben Schott, 'Schott's Vocab: A Miscellany of Modern Words & Phrases,' in New York Times, 1 June 2011.
  5. ^ Joshua Mitnick, Mosque is torched in Israel, in Wall Street Journal, 4 October 2011.
  6. ^ a b c Ori Nir, '"Price Tag" Terrorism Crosses the Green Line,', in Peace Now, 4 October 2011
  7. ^ a b Friedman, Uri. The 'Price Tag' Menace: Vigilante Israeli Settler Attacks Spread. October 2011
  8. ^ Yaniv Kubovich, Eli Ashkenazi. Police brace for Israeli Arab revenge attacks following mosque torching. Haaretz. "Price tag attacks are revenge actions by Jewish extremists, usually against Palestinians, following terror attacks or state demolitions in settlements or outposts."
  9. ^ Haaretz Service and Chaim Levinson 'Palestinian stabbed in Hebron Hills in suspected 'price tag' attack,' in Haaretz, 21 March 2011. "Some of these so-called 'price tag' attacks have been in response to Palestinian attacks on Jews, while others have been in response to government actions taken to curtail of settlement activities."
  10. ^ B'tselem, Background on violence by settlers,' 2011:"In recent years, settlers have carried out violent acts under the slogan “price tag”. These are acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces. They generally follow actions by Israeli authorities that are perceived as harming the settlement enterprise, or follow Palestinian violence against settlers. B'Tselem has documented many acts of this kind, which have included blocking roads, throwing stones at cars and houses, making incursions into Palestinian villages and land, torching fields, uprooting trees, and other damage to property."
  11. ^ John Lyons Moral Minority in The Australian, 17 September 2011:'Some settlers practice a "price tag" policy: if the Israeli government does something they do not like, such as trying to close an illegal outpost, they in turn punish Palestinians, by poisoning or burning olive trees, desecrating mosques or attacking cars..'
  12. ^ Anshel Pfeffer & Chaim Levinson Israeli settlers' council condemns 'marginal group' behind vandalism at IDF base, in Haaretz, 7 September 2011: 'This was the first "price tag" act extremist settlers have implemented against the army since adopting their policy of seeking retribution to exact for any curb on Israeli construction in the West Bank. Extremists adopted their "price tag" policy to demonstrate discontent with the government's decision to freeze construction in West Bank settlements, but have directed their operations thus far at Palestinians.'
  13. ^ Uri Friedman, The 'Price Tag' Menace: Vigilante Israeli Settler Attacks Spread,: "The New York Times defines price tag attacks as incidents in which radical Jewish settlers "exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise"." Atlantic wire.com, 3 October 2011
  14. ^ Chezki Ezra, השב"כ: פעילי הגבעות עוסקים ב"תג מחיר" - משפט ופלילים - חדשות - ערוץ 7, in Arutz Sheva, 11 February 2008.
  15. ^ a b Reuters, Facts about "Price Tag" attacks blamed on Jewish settlers, 3 October 2011.
  16. ^ a b Eli Ashkenazi, Amos Harel and DPA 'Israel Police on high alert as clashes ensue following mosque arson,' in Haaretz, 4 October 2011.
  17. ^ B'tselem, Background on violence by settlers.
  18. ^ Oz Rosenberg, Home of Israeli left-wing activist defaced in latest 'price tag' act in Haaretz, 12 September 2011.
  19. ^ Amos Harel ANALYSIS / The extreme right has sought to establish a 'balance of terror', in Haaretz, 11 March 2008.
  20. ^ Herb Keinon,Tovah Lazaroff, 'Netanyahu condemns settlers’ ‘price tag’ violence' in Jerusalem Post, 9 March 2011:"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday condemned alleged violence carried out by far-Right activists in the past week under the guise of the so-called “price tag” reprisal policy, saying the whole concept was completely unacceptable."
  21. ^ Raanan Ben-Zur, 'Suspect arrested in Tuba Zangaria mosque arson,' in Ynet, 6 October 2011.
  22. ^ Ethan Bronner, Amid Statehood Bid, Tensions Simmer in West Bank, in New York Times, 23 September 2011.
  23. ^ Friedman, Uri, The 'Price Tag' Menace: Vigilante Israeli Settler Attacks Spread. October 2011.
  24. ^ a b Ethan Bronner, Amid Statehood Bid, Tensions Simmer in West Bank, New York Times, 23 September 2011, p.1:"The settler leadership has fiercely condemned “price tag,” saying it does not represent the vast majority of their community".
  25. ^ Nadav Shragai, 'The new policy of the settlers: "price tag" on any evacuation of the army', (Hebrew) in Haaretz, 3 October 2008:"The settlers' establishment and the vast majority of the Yesha Rabbis express reservations about it."
  26. ^ Eli Ashkenazi, Amos Harel and DPA Israel Police on high alert as clashes ensue following mosque arson in Haaretz, 4 October 2011.
  27. ^ Shin Bet urges Israeli government to halt funding of West Bank yeshiva - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
  28. ^ a b Ynet, Poll: 46% in favor of 'price tag',' in Ynet 28 March 2011.
  29. ^ Yair Altman, 'Settlers: Arabs, leftists staged 'price tag' act,', in Ynet, 30 October 2010.
  30. ^ Samuel Grossman, התפרעויות בירושלים אחרי טענות ל"תג מחיר", in Ynet, 20 March 2010.
  31. ^ Ali Waked, 'Settlers reject Palestinian accusations of tree sabotage,', in Ynet, 23 February 2010.
  32. ^ a b Ali Waked & Efrat Weiss, After fire in the mosque, a Border Policeman and Palestinian injured (Hebrew) in Ynet, 11 December 2009.
  33. ^ B'tselem, Background on violence by settlers,' 2008.:"The term "price tag" was coined by settlers, who explained its meaning in media interviews. For example, on 24 July '07, after Israeli security forces removed a bus that had been placed in the Adey Ad outpost, a leader of the settlers' opposition in Yitzhar was quoted in Ha'aretz as saying, "the police have to understand that there will be a very high price tag on any event of this kind". He described the harm to Palestinians as "a display of good citizenship that is intended to help the police enforce the planning and building laws in the area on Palestinians, too". On 15 Nov. '08, after the Federman Farm outpost was evacuated, Eliezer Melamed, the rabbi of the Har Bracha settlement, was quoted in NRG as saying, "the price tag policy appears to be very effective and the security establishment is doing everything to break it".
  34. ^ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 'The Price of a Law Enforcement Failure; Israeli Settler Violence and the Evacuation of Outposts,' in The United Nations, 1 November 2009:"a new pattern of violence, named by Israeli settlers as the “price tag” strategy, emerged during 2008, in which groups of settlers would exact a “price” against Palestinians and their property in response to attempts by the Israeli authorities to dismantle “unauthorized” settlement "
  35. ^ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 'The Price of a Law Enforcement Failure; Israeli Settler Violence and the Evacuation of Outposts,' in The United Nations, 1 November 2009:"This strategy has been also named by settler groups as the “mutual responsibility” strategy, in reference to the collective effort required to prevent the evacuation of settlement outposts."
  36. ^ Yaakov Lappin, Tovah Lazaroff, 'Settlers from Givat Ronen clash with police,' in Jerusalem Post, 31 March 2011.
  37. ^ Sarah Kreimer, 'East Jerusalem construction scuttling two-state solution,' at Haaretz, 21 October 2011.
  38. ^ Gavriel Queenann, 'Yesha Commander's Comments Raise Resident's Ire,' at Arutz Sheva, 13 October 2011.
  39. ^ Gideon Levy, 'Israeli leaders' price tag against the Palestinians ,' at Haaretz, 3 November 2011.
  40. ^ Eli Senyor, 'Teenage girls suspected of West Bank sabotage,' at Ynet, 4 December 2011:'The suspicions fall under the category of "nationalistic crime" – the new name given to "price tag" acts.'
  41. ^ Zitun, Yoav (25 October 2011). "'Price tag amounts to terrorism'". Ynet. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4139064,00.html. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  42. ^ Melman, Yossi (10 October 2011). "When the Shin Bet really doesn't want to". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/when-the-shin-bet-really-doesn-t-want-to-1.389072. Retrieved 10 October 2011. 
  43. ^ Haaretz Editorial the terrorist wave against Israel's Arabs, in Haaretz, 10 October 2011:"On both sides of the Green Line, from the West Bank through Tuba-Zangaria to Jaffa, a wave of terror is sweeping the country. It's not yet murderous terror, for so far, no one has been hurt by the abominable acts rapidly piling up under the innocent-sounding "price tag" label. But the purpose and the results are clear, and it seems likely they will end by claiming lives as well.."
  44. ^ Daniel Byman, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press, 2011 p.290.
  45. ^ Byman, 2011 p.290-1
  46. ^ Amos Harel, ANALYSIS: The extreme right has sought to establish a 'balance of terror', in Haaretz, 3 November 2008.
  47. ^ המתנחלים אחרי יצהר: נקבע "תג מחיר" לפינויים
  48. ^ להפסיק לגנות ולהתחיל לבנות - דעות
  49. ^ Haaretz Editorial, 'Defeat settler terror ,' in Haaretz, in Haaretz, 27 October 2008.
  50. ^ a b c d OCHA, 1 November 2009.
  51. ^ תג מחיר: חסימות צמתים ברחבי יו"ש והארץ - בארץ - חדשות - ערוץ 7
  52. ^ Sheera Frenkel (21 July 2009). "Israeli settlers burn olive groves in ‘price tag’ retaliation attack". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6721173.ece. 
  53. ^ "The West Bank : Villagers v settlers". The Economist. September 2011. http://www.economist.com/node/21530175. "By night, activists exact what they call “price-tags”, for instance by defiling mosques, in the hope of provoking a conflict which the well-armed settlers feel sure they could win." 
  54. ^ נקמה במכוניות בירושלים: "נקפיא גם אתכם"
  55. ^ Chezki Ezra, השב"כ: פעילי הגבעות עוסקים ב"תג מחיר in Arutz Sheva, 11 February 2008.
  56. ^ ירידה בהיקף "תג מחיר" - ביטחון - חדשות - ערוץ 7
  57. ^ OCHA, 1 November 2009.
  58. ^ Human Rights Watch Separate and Unequal Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,' Human Rights Watch, December 2010 p.99.
  59. ^ OCHA, 1 November 2009:"The lack of adequate law enforcement and accountability in regard to settler violence has been recurrently pointed out, since the early 1980’s, by official commissions appointed by the Israeli authorities, as well as by human rights organizations.."
  60. ^ Yair Altman, 'Settlers say:we have documentation on the price tag,' (Hebrew) in Ynet, 30 October 2010.
  61. ^ Ali Waked,'Palestinians say 40 of their olive trees destroyed: settlers claim it is a plot,' (Hebrew) in Ynet, 23 February 2010.
  62. ^ Amichai Robin,'Now even the Border Police admit that Palestinians lied,' (Hebrew) in Srugim (Knitted), 17 February 2011.A shepherd from the village of Majdal Bani Fadil near Ma'ale Efrayim blamed settlers for a fire that killed his flock.
  63. ^ הפורום המשפטי למען ארץ ישראל
  64. ^ Haaretz Service and Yaniv Kubovich,'Jaffa gang suspected of plotting to kill sheikh, blame rightists for crime,', in Haaretz, 17 May 2011.
  65. ^ a b John Lyons,'Mosque burning in Israel fuels tensions,' in The Australian, 5 October 2011
  66. ^ נתניהו: תג מחיר - עיוות של המחאה האזרחית - בארץ - חדשות - ערוץ 7
  67. ^ Netanyahu condemns settlers’ ‘price tag’... JPost - National News
  68. ^ Israel - Rabbi Harshly Condemns Violence by Jewish Hooligans Against Arabs, 2 June 2009
  69. ^ The Associated Press and Haaretz Service. Olmert: I am shamed by Hebron settlers' pogrom. 2008
  70. ^ Joel Greenberg, 'Mosque torched in northern Israel,' in The Washington Post, 3 October 2011.
  71. ^ , in Kobi Nahshoni, 'Rabbi Amar: Mosque arson may be blood libel,' in Ynet, 4 October 2011:'the attempt to ascribe the act to "price tag" activists is basically a "blood libel".
  72. ^ Netanyahu condemns settlers’ ‘price tag’ violence. Jerusalem Post
  73. ^ המדיניות החדשה של המתנחלים: "תג מחיר" על כל פינוי של הצבא - כללי - הארץ
  74. ^ Haaretz Editorial, 'Defeat settler terror ,' in Haaretz, 27 October 2008.
  75. ^ JPOST.COM STAFF, 'Danny Dayan condemns 'price tag' attack ,' in Jerusalem Post, 7 September 2011.:"Chairman of the Yesha Council Danny Dayan on Wednesday vehemently condemned the "price tag" attack on the IDF base and called on the vandals responsible to turn themselves in immediately, Israel Radio reported. He continued, saying that it was time the security forces start treating instances like this one seriously and bring the perpetrators to justice."
  76. ^ BBC, 'West Bank settler leader Pinhas Wallerstein resigns,' on BBC News, 11 January 2010:"In his resignation letter as secretary general of the Yesha Council, Mr Wallerstein condemned the organisation's failure to condemn the "price tag" policy employed by some settlers. Under the policy, settlers attack Palestinian villages when the government takes action against Jewish settlements. He also criticised the council for failing to condemn soldiers who refuse to carry out government orders to evacuate unauthorised settlements."
  77. ^ a b Elyakim Haetzni, 'Despicable Jewish revenge,', YNET, 25 October 2010.
  78. ^ Nathan Jeffay, Hebron Rioters Inspired by Radical Settler Leaders, The Jewish Daily Forward, 11 December 2008.
  79. ^ James Hider 'West Bank settlers use ‘price tag’ tactic to punish Palestinians,' in The Times, 15 October 2009.
  80. ^ דניאלה וייס: השב"כ מעורב בהנחת המטען בבית שטרנהל - כללי - הארץ
  81. ^ Zeev Sternhell Israeli society is standing by as settlers take the reigns,’ in Haaretz, 14 October 2011.
  82. ^ a b Gil Ronen, 'Rav Druckman: 'Price Tag' Attacks are Horrible,', in Arutz Sheva, 3 October 2011.:"The Head of the Center of Bnei Akiva Yeshivas, Rav Chaim Druckman, reacted forcefully to the burning of a mosque in the Bedouin Arab village of Tuba Sunday night."All of the actions that are undertaken under the headline 'Price Tag' are horrible, shocking, anti-Jewish and anti-morality," he said."
  83. ^ Eli Ashkenazi, Amos Harel and DPA, 'Israel Police on high alert as clashes ensue following mosque arson,' in Haaretz, 4 October 2011.
  84. ^ Nadav Shragai, המדיניות החדשה של המתנחלים: "תג מחיר" על כל פינוי של הצבא - כללי - הארץ (The new policy of the settlers: "price tag" on any evacuation of the army), 3 October 2008:"The settlers establishment and the vast majority of the Yesha Rabbis ?disapprove of? these types of acts."
  85. ^ Isabel Kershner (7 June 2011). "Arsonists Damage and Deface Mosque in West Bank Village". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/world/middleeast/08mideast.html?_r=1. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  86. ^ "Israeli settler rabbi slams 'price tag' violence". AFP. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5irJlh1VPJO6Sk4d48mPJuMDAu-1w?docId=CNG.ae64262d1dcb6895c6f8b9cb03b1b8f3.f1. 
  87. ^ ישיבת ההסדר פתח תקוה - היחס לנעשה בחוות פדרמן
  88. ^ הרב רבינוביץ: "תג מחיר – כמו הבריונים בימי החורבן"
  89. ^ חדשות - אסור לפגוע ברכוש ערבי
  90. ^ Akiva Novick 'Rabbis slam 'price tag' activities,', in Ynet, 19 September 2011.:Two prominent Religious Zionism rabbis have strongly condemned the "price tag" activities committed by extreme right-wing activists, and have even called on settlers – for the first time – to turn in the criminals to the army. The two are the heads of the Har Etzion Yeshiva and are among the settler public's moderate religious leaders: Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, 78, who is considered a genius on halachic issues, and Rabbi Yaaqov Medan, 61, considered the yeshiva's most rightist leader."
  91. ^ Akiva Novick 'Rabbis slam 'price tag' activities,', in Ynet, 19 September 2011
  92. ^ לאחר הצתת המסגד: לוחם מג"ב ופלסטינים נפצעו
  93. ^ הרבצ"ר היוצא: איפה התל-אביבים הקרביים?
  94. ^ הרב פרומן: זה לא הזמן ל'תג מחיר' - בארץ - חדשות - ערוץ 7
  95. ^ The Right Word: האירוע בשילה היום
  96. ^ יראת אלקים – תו תקן לישיבה בארץ
  97. ^ רשמים מערב הלימוד עם תושבי איבטין
  98. ^ לשמשון היה "תג מחיר" - זה לא עזר
  99. ^ גלי צה"ל און-ליין - הרב שפירא במעצר, בישיבה ביצהר זועמים
  100. ^ Tovah Lazaroff, 'IDF to blame for price-tag atmosphere,' in Jerusalem Post, 17 May 2010.
  101. ^ "Rabbi arrested, suspected in West Bank mosque arson", BBC News, 27 January 2010
  102. ^ 'IDF to blame for price-tag atmosphere'
  103. ^ Sheera Frenkel Israel's probe of radical Jewish text puts rabbis in spot light, McClatchy Washington Bureau, 7 July 2011.
  104. ^ Palestinian laborer beaten in suspected 'price tag' attack. Haaretz.
  105. ^ Barry Leff, Price tag – a violation of Jewish values, Jerusalem Post
  106. ^ Maan News Agency: PA: Settler violence 'not random'
  107. ^ a b JPost staff 'US condemns 'price-tag' attacks on W. Bank mosques,' in Jerusalem Post, 9 September 2011.
  108. ^ United Nations, November 2011, [1], Retrieved 8 November 2011
  109. ^ The Associated Press & Yuval Azoulay,'Settler holds knife to IDF soldier's throat in West Bank riot,' in Haaretz, 24 July 2008.
  110. ^ Ali Waked, 'Hebron burning: Settler fire injures Palestinians,' in Ynet, 4 December 2008
  111. ^ a b c OCHA, I November, 2009.
  112. ^ Sheera Frenkel, Israeli settlers burn olive groves in ‘price tag’ retaliation attack, in The Times, 21 July 2009.
  113. ^ Not much of an olive branch, in The Economist, 15 October 2009.
  114. ^ Ali Waked,with Efraim Weiss, 'Settlers suspected of torching Palestinian mosque,' in Ynet, 11 December 2009.
  115. ^ Nine Settlers, Including Three Teens, Arrested For Involvement in Salfit Mosque Attack, in International Middle East Media Center, 18 January 2010.
  116. ^ a b c Saed Bannoura, 'Settler Torch Olive Orchard In Silwan,' in International Middle East Media Center, 13 May 2010.
  117. ^ Mohamad Alasmar, for the ‘price-tag’ policy,' in Jerusalem Post, 18 August 2010
  118. ^ Aviel Magnezi, 'Settlers block roads, clash with police,' (in Hebrew) [Ynet], 26 July 2010.
  119. ^ West Bank demolitions prompt riots, arrests, 'price tag' missions, YNet
  120. ^ Mohammed Mar'i, 'Occupiers uproot olive trees in West Bank,' Arab News, 17 August 2010.
  121. ^ Ethan Bronner, Arsonists Damage a Mosque in the West Bank, in [The New York Times], 4 October 2010.
  122. ^ Reuters, Settlers replace Korans burnt in West Bank mosque attack,' in Haaretz, 5 October 2010.
  123. ^ B'tselem, by Settlers,' 3 November 2010,
  124. ^ Agence France-Presse, 'Israel settlers start fires amid West Bank harvest ,', 16 October 2010.
  125. ^ a b Joshua Bloom, 'Operation Price Tag,' in Rabbis for Human Rights, 25 October 2010.
  126. ^ Yair Altman, Price tag: Palestinian cars vandalized in Hebron.' in Ynet, 1 March 2011.
  127. ^ Yair Altman, Price tag: Palestinian cars vandalized in Hebron.' in Ynet, 1 March 2011
  128. ^ Ahmad Jaradat, 'Israeli Settler Violence Report: March and April 2011,' in Alternative Information Center, 12 June 2011: 'On March 4, settlers from Shvut Rachel in the southeast Nablus District damaged around 500 olive trees belonging to families from the village of Sorra. According to the Palestinian settlement file office in the northern West Bank, “the settlers attacked in the early morning hours, damaging and uprooting about 500 olive trees. Some of the settlers also entered the village and stoned homes”. These attacks are part of the settlers’ “price tag” plan, announced against Palestinians in the West Bank. The plan was ostensibly launched because the Israeli army dismantled several mobile houses in some outposts and settlements in West Bank, including the outpost of Giv’at Gil’ad in the North.'
  129. ^ Yaakov Lappin, 'Settlers suspected of 'price tag' attack in Shiloh ,' in Jerusalem Post, 17 March 2011.
  130. ^ Elior Levy 'Palestinian 'price tag' victim recounts attack,' in Ynet, 17 March 2011.
  131. ^ Isabel Kershner,Arsonists Damage and Deface Mosque in West Bank Village, in New York Times, 7 June 2011.
  132. ^ Saed Bannoura, ['Settlers Torch Palestinian Farmlands Near Nablus,'] IMEMC 26 July 2011.
  133. ^ Chaim Levinson & Avi Issacharoff Settlers set fire to West Bank mosque after Israel demolishes illegal structures in Migron, in Haaretz, 5 September 2011.
  134. ^ Anshel Pfeffer & Chaim Levinson, Israeli settlers vandalize IDF base in first 'price tag' act against army, in Haaretz, 7 September 2011.
  135. ^ Quamar Mishirqi-Asad,'High ‘Price Tag’ in the Mosque of the Village Yatma,' in Rabbis for Human Rights, 13 September 2011.
  136. ^ Oz Rosenberg,'Home of Israeli left-wing activist defaced in latest 'price tag' act,' at Haaretz, 12 September 2011.
  137. ^ Yair Altman,Suspected 'price tag' act: Olive trees cut down in West Bank in Ynet, 25 September 2011.
  138. ^ Yair Altman, Olive trees uprooted near Hebron, in Ynet, 29 September 2011.
  139. ^ Hassan Shaalan 'Price tag: Mosque torched in Upper Galilee,' in Ynet, 3 October 2011
  140. ^ Saed Bannoura, 'Settlers Uproot 200 Olive Tree Near Nablus,' in - IMEMC, 6 October 2011.
  141. ^ Ravid Barak, Avi Issacharoff, Chaim Levinson, Christian graves in Jaffa defaced with racist slogans in suspected 'Price Tag' attack,' in Haaretz, 8 October 2011.
  142. ^ Ilan Lior and Haaretz, Israel man vandalizes Rabin memorial in protest of Shalit deal. in Haaretz, 14 October 2011.
  143. ^ Oz Rosenberg, http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/suspected-right-wing-extremists-uproot-20-olive-trees-belonging-to-jerusalem-arab-family-1.392341 'Suspected right-wing extremists uproot 20 olive trees belonging to Jerusalem Arab family,'] at Haaretz, 27 October 2011.
  144. ^ Jack Khoury 'Vandals set fire to Arab restaurant in Jaffa in suspected 'price tag' attack,' at Haaretz, 31 October 2011
  145. ^ Chaim Levinson,West Bank mosque set alight in suspected 'price tag' attack, at Haaretz, 7 December, 2011.
  146. ^ Yaakov Katz, 'Settlers break into IDF base in 'price tag' attack,' at JPost.com, 13 December, 2011
  147. ^ Yair Altman,'Settlers raid IDF base, injure commander,' at Ynet, 13 December, 2011.
  148. ^ Oz Rosenberg, 'Jerusalem mosque set alight in suspected 'price tag' attack,', at Haaretz, 14 December, 2011.
  149. ^ Elior Levy 'West Bank Mosque torched,' at Ynet, 15 December, 2011.
  150. ^ Elior Levy, 'Hate slogans sprayed on mosque near Hebron,' at Ynet,19 Dec.2011
  151. ^ Eli Senyor, 'Teenage girls suspected of West Bank sabotage,' at Ynet, 4 December 2011.
  152. ^ Chaim Levinson, IDF soldiers arrested over link to 'price tag' attacks in West Bank at Haaretz 7 December, 2011.