A resident of the Palestinian village of al-Sawiyeh, south of Nablus, standing next to his car vandalized by Jewish settlers. (WAFA Images / Ayman Noubani) 

By Jamil Dababat

NABLUS, April 17, 2018 (WAFA) – The usual serenity of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, a village of 4000 people located south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was interrupted early Tuesday when residents woke up to find out that their cars and property have been vandalized during the night.

Vandals - everyone in the village knew were Jewish settlers - must have broken into the village, located on a small hill and surrounded by olive and almond trees and overlooks narrow fields that go along the main Nablus-Ramallah highway, in the predawn hours.

Issa Oweis, a truck driver who works in distributing home goods to nearby villages, woke up at six in the morning to get ready to start work when he saw that the tires on his truck have been slashed, apparently with a sharp tool.

“It’s the work of settlers,” he immediately said when asked about who he thinks have done this to his truck.

In addition to slashing his tires, the vandals also painted hate slogans in Hebrew on his vehicle, something he knew was the work of the Jewish terrorist group Price Tag.

Another village resident, Abdul Rahman Oweis, who works in sanitation in the village, said he passed by three people at around two in the morning after leaving his  home.

“They said hello and I thought they were soldiers,” he told WAFA. “Later I realized they were settlers.”

Khaled Daraghmeh said he heard  noise outside his house and when he looked out of the window, whoever it was ran away.

Ali Noubani, who lives at a narrow road intersection in the middle of the village, said he heard what sounded like tires being deflated and he looked out of the window to see what was going on.

“I saw them slashing the tires with sharp tool and I yelled at them. I thought they were thieves. I chased them with my son toward the north. They were masked and one of  them carried a bag,” he said.

Residents said at least 30 cars had their tires slashed and that they believe the whole thing did not take more than 30 minutes.

But al-Lubban al-Sharqiya was not the only village that came under attack. Nearby al-Sawiyeh also suffered a similar fate where cars were also vandalized during the night even though residents were not sure if it happened before or after the vandalism at al-Lubban.

The slogans painted on the vehicles in al-Lubban were in green and they called for the return to the Jewish messiah, while the slogans in al-Sawiyeh were painted in blue.

Normally, the Israeli army comes to the scene where settlers vandalized and attack Palestinian villages to collect evidence and talk to witnesses.

But this time, and nine hours after the incident, no soldier had shown up in the two villages.

The Palestinian presidency has condemned the attack and held the Israeli government fully responsible for not punishing the known perpetrators. It also called for an international protection for the Palestinian people since the Israeli government, the occupying power, is not capable of or not willing to provide protection to the Palestinian people under its occupation as required by international law.

M.K.