JERUSALEM, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Some twenty vehicles were vandalized and anti-Arab slogans were spray-painted in a Palestinian West Bank town in an apparent hate crime carried out by Israeli nationalists.
The Israeli police issued a statement, saying the incident took place in the town of Iskaka, southwest of Nablus city.
Photos released by the residents show tires slashed and graffiti spray-painted with red spray on cars, the town's mosque, and some homes.
The graffitis include the names of Ori Ansbacher, an Israeli girl killed last week allegedly by a Palestinian, and Hadas Tapuchi, an Israeli woman killed in a car accident in the West Bank and settlers claim the crash was caused by stones hurled at her car. Additionally, a Star of David was spray-painted.
Abdel Qader Abu Hakmeh, head of the town council, told the Palestinian National Authority's WAFA news agency that the attack was carried out by settlers who raided the town overnight.
Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman with the Israeli police, said that "police and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) units will enter the area to investigate the incident."
No suspects have been arrested yet.
Human rights group say that attacks against Palestinians have been on the rise over the past years, attributing it primarily to the fact that most of the attacks remain unsolved as law enforcement authorities usually fail to arrest and charge any suspects.
In January, Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency said that several "Jewish terrorists" have been arrested on suspicion of killing Aisha Rabi, a 47-year-old mother of nine, in the West Bank.
The incident took place outside the settlement of Rahelim in the northern West Bank. Rabi was driving with her husbands and two of her daughters when she was struck in the head by a stone allegedly hurled by settlers.
