Ex-Israeli officials: ‘Price tag’ attacks could start intifada

Following a recent increase in ‘Price tag’ attacks on Palestinian holy sites, former high-ranking Israeli security officials warned of the risk of a surge in violence across the region.

The attack this week on a mosque in the village of Tuba-Zangariya in northern Israel, where the interior prayer hall and religious emblems were set on fire, was the most recent in a series of attacks that Jewish settlers label “Price Tag” attacks, signifying payback for any Israeli curbs on settlements in the West.

Bank Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said four males, most of them West Bank settlers, had been arrested and questioned for previous assaults attributed to the “price tag” group, however all were released without charge.

“Over the last year there have been a large number of incidents that have taken place, specifically in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The Israeli police have set up a special task force team to deal specifically with those incidents, which is including both stoning of Palestinian vehicles, unfortunately a number of damage that was caused to mosques both in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Israeli police will continue to do everything possible in the near future both to prevent further incidents from taking place and we made approximately four arrests over the last month involving those specific incidents,” said Rosenfeld.    

 -Reuters