An anti-Arab sign placed on the road outside the Israeli army-run Yitzhar settlement, near Nablus, has prompted accusations of racism among settlers.
Some settlement leaders launched a campaign against their allies, with a former general urging them to stop taking foolish decisions that would cause great harm to settlers and to the image of the Jewish State in the world.
The sign appeared after a dispute between the settlement and the army when the Ministry of Health sent a medical team for PCR tests. But settlers stopped the team for being headed by an Arab doctor.
An Israeli police official dubbed the racist decision “foolish.”
Human rights groups raised the issue with the area’s military commander, who said the action was illegal.
The sign included a phrase written in three languages, Hebrew, Arabic and English. “This road leads to Yitzhar. Entrance for Arabs in dangerous!” it read.
Police removed it, but the incident was highly criticized even by settlers and right-wing Israelis.
In 1983, the Gush Emunim settlement of Yitzhar was built by newcomers from the United States on top of a mountain located south of Nablus city.
Emerging from this settlement, a group of Israeli settlers affiliated with the “Price Tag” movement launched attacks against neighboring Palestinian villages and towns.
Every time Israeli authorities take action against their illegal practices, they take their revenge from Palestinians, by burning mosques, storming their towns, vandalizing cars and smashing windows.
In 2015, they carried out a deadly arson attack on the Palestinian Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma in the West Bank.
They also incite for killing Arabs by writing racist mottos on walls of Palestinian houses.
Every now and then, settlers throw stones on Palestinian vehicles, injuring passengers. In October 12, 2019, Aisha Rabi, 45, died after settlers threw stones at the car she was traveling in with her family in the West Bank.
In olive harvest seasons, these settlers enjoy burning olive trees or stealing olives from Palestinian lands.
Over the past few years, many Yitzhar settlers had carried out attacks against Israeli police forces, set their vehicles on fire and assaulted Israeli journalists.
On Tuesday, settlers attacked journalist Ohad Hemo by throwing stones at him at an olive grove in the West Bank while he was covering clashes between settler youth and Palestinian farmers in the area.
