Jewish settlers vandalize Palestinian vehicles in J'lem

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli settlers on Thursday vandalized Palestinian vehicles in a suspected “price tag” attack in occupied East Jerusalem, according to a local eyewitness.

“Settlers slashed tires and spray-painted racist slogans on dozens of cars in Jerusalem’s southern Beit Hanina neighborhood,” one local resident told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal.

"Price tag" vandalism is a strategy used by extremist Jewish settlers by which they attack Palestinians and their property in retaliation for perceived threats to Israeli settlement expansion.

According to Palestinian figures, more than 270,000 Israeli settlers currently live on dozens of Jewish-only settlements scattered across occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 claiming it as its "undivided and eternal capital" -- a move never recognized by the international community.

Palestinians, for their part, hope that East Jerusalem might one day serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders.