Author: Badalian Vardan

Vote 2013: Sargsyan reelection bid appears unimpeded following
Tsarukyan’s decision

VOTE 2013 | 14.12.12 | 13:25

Photolure

Analysts say Serzh Sargsyan is destined to repeat this scene following
the February election.
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Most political analysts in Armenia consider the outcome of the
upcoming presidential election to be almost a foregone conclusion
after Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan bowed out
of the forthcoming race.

The local political thought seems to come to consensus that President
Serzh Sargsyan will get an easy reelection in the February 18 vote in
the absence of such a political heavyweight, while no new no-nonsense
challenge has emerged yet.

After months of speculation about his possible presidential bid tycoon
Tsarukyan told his party on Wednesday that he would not join the fray
after all, leading PAP to decide not to name a candidate at all, while
also withholding support to any other presidential hopeful.

After the announcement that came following a meeting of the PAP
Political Council, attention has reasonably shifted to the opposition
Armenian National Congress (ANC), whose leader’s apparent hopes
connected with PAP’s bid have not been fulfilled.

Former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who already unsuccessfully ran
against Sargsyan five years ago, now has to come up with a decision
whether he makes another bid or lets another senior member of his
coalition run instead. No details have been officially released of the
ongoing discussions within the ANC, but media have been awash with
assumptions in this regard.

The radical opposition Haykakan Zhamanak daily (founded by current ANC
lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan, who has repeatedly spoken against
cooperation with PAP) writes in its Friday issue that the alliance
held a special meeting Thursday, with the PAP statement being the only
issue on the agenda of the discussions. `Following the meeting its
participants adopted a statement, which, according to our information,
contains three main messages: PAP informed ANC of its decisions before
making it public; it is good that PAP does not support Serzh Sargsyan;
ANC will continue to negotiate with PAP.’

Another Yerevan daily, 168 Zham, has similar information. It predicts
that the opposition alliance will continue to flirt with PAP, trying
to present its decision to the public at large as Tsarukyan’s
`cheating’ Sargsyan rather than the ANC.

Meanwhile, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) seems to be
regarding much of PAP’s potential electorate to be its own now that
the Tsarukyan party has announced it won’t take part in the election.
Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan, who is Deputy Chairman
of the RPA, talking to media on Thursday, expressed confidence that
`many PAP members, though not very actively, still will support the
RPA candidate with their heart and soul.’

Before that, former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, who joined PAP
before last May’s parliamentary election, broke his silence via
Facebook yesterday. Oskanian, who has positioned himself as an
advocate of a more active fight to `break the political monopoly of
the RPA’, said the decision wasn’t an easy one and that there were
different opinions in the party’s political council. He also hinted at
his disagreeing with the decision.

`Months ago I published my opinion that PAP should nominate its own
candidate taking into account its weight, [popularity] ratings, as
well as the possibilities of being an alternative and reaching an
agreement [with other forces] around a single candidate. Considering
the domestic political situation, difficulties in nominating a single
candidate and PAP Chairman Gagik Tsarukyan’s decision against running
for president, the PAP Political Council found it expedient not to
participate in the presidential election with an own candidate and not
to support another candidate. Despite the fact that I had a different
vision of our steps and further struggle, I still respect the decision
that has been made,’ wrote the former foreign minister.

The next 10-day period will bring more clarity in the ultimate lineup
of candidates in the February 18 election as most political forces
will hold their conventions and gatherings regarding the matter. The
Republican Party is due to nominate its leader and incumbent president
Serzh Sargsyan at the gathering on Saturday. The Heritage Party is
expected to name its leader Raffi Hovannisian as another candidate.
The congresses of the Armenian National Movement (a key ANC member)
and the Hanrapetutyun party, which left the ANC earlier this year, are
likely to complete the picture. Presidential candidates are required
to submit documents to the Central Electoral Commission for
registration between December 25 and January 4.

Tigran Sargsyan Conveyed Final Decision To Biden

Naira Hayrumyan
13:29 14/12/2012
Story from Lragir.am News:

Apparently, the Prime Minister went to the U.S. to assure about the
final decision of Armenia and Serzh Sargsyan to integrate with the
Western community and to review its relations with Russia.

The fact that Tigran Sargsyan was received at the White House by Vice
President Joe Biden and the fact that Armenia could resume the
projects of Millennium Challenges Corporation is evidence that the
decision was made.

Millennium Challenges projects were discontinued in Armenia after the
2008 election, when Russia managed to fail the `orange’ revolution in
Armenia. Then Russia established its presence in Armenia, extended the
term of the deployment of the military base, but now its influence
certainly falls. And the United States will appreciate the decision of
Armenia, if it is really final.

Despite assurances by the President and Prime Minister of Armenia,
about the course of European integration, Western politicians and
experts are still wary of this. Even recently, in Armenia, European
officials have hinted that Armenia has not yet made a final decision
and that it is still faces the choice.

Apparently, the final decision is made, and Tigran Sargsyan was sent
by Serzh Sargsyan to communicate about it to Joe Biden. If the United
States decides to renew the MCC projects in Armenia, it will mean that
the U.S. believed Serzh Sargsyan.

Apparently, Russia is also aware of this, and this was the reason of
Gagik Tsarukyan’s refusal to run. Most likely, Russia knew that it
would lose the election, but it does not mean it gave up the fight. No
coincidence that on the day of Gagik Tsarukyan’s refusal, Gazprom
announced about increasing the gas price for Armenia.

In his address to the Federal Assembly, Putin made it clear that he
considers the population of the post-Soviet space and the territory of
the former Russian Empire “compatriots”. It is obvious that Russia
will fight for the `compatriots’, especially for Armenia.

Therefore, no need to rejoice that Moscow has decided not to nominate
`its’ candidate in Armenia. Russia will find other methods, and it
would be necessary that Tigran Sargsyan discussed with Joe Biden,
whether the U.S. is ready for the gas price increase in Armenia and
the extension of the Russian military base.

ARMENIE
Le parti Républicain répond aux accusations du leader d’Arménie prospère

Rappelons que, d’après un communiqué d’Arménie prospère, le Président
du parti, Gaguik Tsaroukian, actuellement en visite à Bruxelles,
aurait déclaré, lors d’un entretien avec le vice-président du
Parlement européen, M. Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, « qu’il était
impossible de lutter contre la corruption dans un pays où ce combat
est à l’initiative des corrompus ». Par la voix de son porte-parole,
Edouard Charmazanov, le parti Républicain a dénoncé la déclaration de
M. Tsaroukian comme « honteuse ». Selon lui, Arménie prospère, qui
faisait partie de la coalition gouvernementale jusqu’en juin dernier,
ptit lui-même d’une mauvaise réputation parmi les fonctionnaires de
l’Union européenne : « Nous nous abstenons de rappeler que pour nos
partenaires européens, Arménie prospère est considéré comme une force
artificielle … Nous ne disons pas que Arménie prospère, toujours
selon les députés européens, a connu un certain succès en raison de sa
politique populiste. Nous ne disons pas que, selon certains députés
européens, le chef d’Arménie prospère a une connaissance assez vague
de la politique internationale et de l’actualité politique en général
».

L’ancien Ministre des AE, M. Vartan Oskanian, qui accompagne M.
Tsaroukian à Bruxelles, a indiqué que cette visite n’était pas liée Ã
l’approche des élections. M. Oskanian a également suggéré que la
décision attendue de Tsarukian concernant sa candidature à la
présidence de la République serait annoncée la semaine prochaine : «
Cette visite ne préfigure en aucun cas la nature de cette annonce ».
RFE/RL fait état de l’entretien de M. Tsaroukian avec le Commissaire
Åtefan Füle. Les commentateurs d’Azg et de Hraparak se demandent s’il
ne s’agit pas d’un « manège » pour distraire l’opinion, ayant du mal Ã
croire que de sérieux problèmes puissent réellement exister entre deux
formations naguère partenaires. / Rapporté par l’ensemble de la presse

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Arménie en
date du 7 décembre 2012

vendredi 14 décembre 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

ARMENIE
Farm Credit Armenia et le Hollandais PUM signent un accord

Farm Credit Armenia et l’organisation hollandaise PUM ont signé un
accord par lequel cette dernière fournira des conseils agricoles aux
fermiers arméniens.

L’ONG PUM a été fondé le 24 avril 1978 par la Fédération Hollandaise
des Employeurs Chrétiens (NCW) avec l’appui du ministère des Affaires
Etrangères.

Les experts de PUM ont plus de trente ans d’expérience d’assistance
aux pays en voie de développement et sur les marchés émergeants.

L’ONG PUM fournit des conseils dans pratiquement tous les secteurs
possibles – de la logistique au soudage, de l’hospitalité et au
service alimentaire et au travail du bois.

vendredi 14 décembre 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 13 2012

Praising Hrant Dink’s murder

ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
[email protected]

In this column I have written that because hate speech directed
against minorities and sensitive groups has not been penalized at
different times, awareness in Turkey of this issue is quite low.

In fact, the number of hate speech cases against minorities that
result in prosecution and, ultimately, the suspect receiving a
punishment is very few. In our recent past a newer type of case has
been incorporated into these exceptional lawsuits, and a person who
spoke out in praise of the murder of Hrant Dink was given a prison
sentence.

The managing coordinator of Statüko magazine, Okan BaÅ?, wrote in the
magazine’s January-February 2012 issue, `As you know, Ogün Samast is
only a robust youth; he attacked a man who said there is a brutishness
inherent to Turks¦ what’s so wrong with that?’ The Samsun 2nd High
Criminal Court convicted BaÅ? of the crime of spreading enmity and
rancor among the people by praising a crime, and he was sentenced to
one year and three months in prison.

This court decision is rather important from a number of perspectives.
The court accepted that praising Dink’s murder is akin to spreading
rancor and enmity and applied Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code
(TCK) as outlawing hate speech.

The opening of this lawsuit took place in an interesting manner.
Despite the publication of this magazine in Samsun and the
prosecutors’ views on the magazine, they did not opt to open a case of
their own accord. It was only following the filing of a criminal
complaint by Ä°stanbul-based civil society organization Say Stop to
Racism and Nationalism! (Dur De!) that a case was opened. I reached
the press agent for Dure De, Cengiz Algan, by phone and asked what he
thought about this decision.

Algan had the following to say:

`It pleased us that a case was opened against Okan BaÅ?, who openly
praised the killing of Hrant Dink, because all of the criminal
complaints we previously tried to file had been ignored. For example,
most recently, a criminal complaint we filed against the Akit daily
targeting [columnist] Ali BayramoÄ?lu was rejected. It is very
important that a penalty be given for Article 216 of the TCK as well.
This article actually punishes hate speech. However, up until today,
with a few updates, this article was used inversely — to protect the
state. In this regard, this legal decision can set a precedent. In the
criminal cases we file in the future, we can show this decision as an
example.

Such a decision also carries weight in terms of civil society’s
struggle. It’s an example that reflects that the steps taken have not
been in vain. Civil society organizations that are involved in work
concerning hate crimes and speech where there is no legal regulation
will have more self confidence and being and know that they are not
fighting an uphill battle.’

I too agree with Cengiz and I find this decision very encouraging. I
think from now on those who are contemplating praising the killers of
Hrant Dink will think twice before opening up their mouths. And again,
as Cengiz has said, this decision sets a legal precedent. My hope is
that the Supreme Court of Appeals does not lift this penalty during
the appeals process and that it approves this penalty. Our spirits,
which have been weighed down by the prime minister’s intolerant
statements as of late and the appointment of one of the judges who
decided on the sentencing of Hrant Dink for insulting Turkishness as
Turkey’s first chief ombudsman, have become somewhat lifted by this
decision.

This is how Turks progress; they take two steps back and one step forward.

And I am going to continue applauding positive development, while I
criticize negativities. I wanted to share this case, which gave me a
glimmer of hope, with you.

I wish all my readers an enjoyable weekend.

Global Insight
December 12, 2012

Completion of IMF programme review allows payment of new tranche for Armenia

by Venla Sipila

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
completed its fifth review of the performance of the Armenian economy
under its current assistance programmes supported by the Extended Fund
Facility (EFF) and the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The Board
concluded its Article IV Consultations with Armenia. It also approved
a request for a waiver related to Armenia’s lacking performance on its
net official external exchange reserves. Indeed, the Board notes how,
although policies under the programme have been largely conducted
according to plan, Armenia’s net international reserves succumbed to
pressure earlier in the year, and the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
had to intervene in the currency markets in order to secure financial
stability. Some of the reserve losses incurred under the dram support
period were later recovered, but it has not yet been feasible to fully
restore the reserves. In addition, the Fund notes that the wide
current-account deficit presents a key vulnerability for Armenia.
Similarly, the high degree of dollarisation also adds to financial
vulnerability. Finally, the IMF commends the Armenian authorities for
progress in fiscal consolidation, while urging increasing attention to
a strategy to increase revenues. This is because funds are needed for
higher social spending and investments, at the same time as the budget
deficit and debt growth need to be further suppressed.

Significance:The completion of the review allows for Armenia to
withdraw a new disbursement of SDR33.5 million (some USD51.4 million),
bringing total payments under the current programs to SDR2118 million.
The current three-year development programmes were approved in June
2012, and the related credits total SDR266.8 million. It is extremely
important for Armenia to adhere to the IMF’s advice. First, the
reforms supported by the Fund programmes are necessary in order to
increase competitiveness and to strengthen the business environment –
ultimately securing adequate growth potential in the long-term.
Second, taking into account the high external financing needs, and
taking note of the recent dram weakening pressures, an IMF credit
facility is crucially important also in order to secure financial
stability and adequate external liquidity and solvency.

ARMENIE
Les membres du groupe d’amitié France-Arménie ont fait le point sur la
récente table ronde organisée au Sénat français sur le HK

Les membres arméniens du groupe d’amitié France-Arménie dirigé par Ara
Babloyan ont qualifié de « très utile » la table ronde « Haut Karabagh
: paix et dialogue » organisée au Sénat français par Philippe
Kaltenbach, Président du groupe d’amitié France-Arménie du Sénat, le
29 novembre. Margaritte Yessayan, membre de la délégation arménienne,
s’est notamment félicité du rapport « objectif et impartial » de
l’ancien coprésident du Groupe de Minsk, l’Ambassadeur Bernard
Fassier, qui a présenté tout l’historique du conflit, soulignant qu’il
n’y a pas de solution militaire à ce différend. Les parlementaires
arméniens ont proposé d’établir des relations avec les collectivités
de pays non officiellement reconnus dans le cadre de la coopération
décentralisée. Mme Yessayan s’est félicité de ce que, en dépit du
changement de Président en France, l’attention vis-à-vis des problèmes
de l’Arménie n’ait pas diminué. « L’attention et l’impartialité des
Français à l’égard de l’Arménie demeurent entières », a-t-elle dit. /
Hayastani Hanrapetoutioun

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Arménie en
date du 6 décembre 2012

jeudi 13 décembre 201

APA, Azerbaijan
Dec 12 2012

Elmar Mammadyarov: `We will discuss new ideas on the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh in Paris late January’

[ 12 December 2012 15:48 ]
`These are not new proposals, but just certain ideas’

Baku. Victoria Dementeva – APA. The next meeting between the foreign
ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group will be held late January, 2013. Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that the mediators’ new ideas on the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict would be discussed at the
meeting, APA reports.

Mammadyarov mentioned that due to Armenia’s position, it was
impossible to coordinate the statement on 3+2 format on the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict during the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council:
`Probably, it is related with the presidential elections to be held in
Armenia. We will continue the discussions late January – likely in the
last week of January.’

The Minister confirmed that the co-chairs prepared several new ideas
on the settlement of the conflict and included some of them into the
agenda during their recent visit to the region: `These are not new
proposals, but just certain ideas and we will continue their
discussions in Paris.’

New York Times
Dec 11 2012

Armenians Fleeing Anew as Syria Erupts in Battle

By ALIA MALEK
Published: December 11, 2012

YEREVAN, Armenia – At the newly opened Cilician School in this former
Soviet republic, the textbooks are in Arabic, photocopied from a
single set flown out of war-torn Syria. The curriculum is Syrian, the
flag on the principal’s desk is Syrian, and the teachers and students
are all Syrians.

They are also ethnic Armenians, driven by Syria’s civil war to a
notional motherland most barely know.

`Those who are coming here clearly want to go back,’ said the school’s
principal, Noura Pilibosyan, who came from Aleppo, Syria, in the
summer. `Armenian is our language, but our culture is Syrian. It is
hard to come here.’

Their ancestors fled the Ottoman genocide in what is now Turkey nearly
a century ago and flourished in Syria, reviving one of the many
minority groups that have long coexisted there.

Now, the flight of Syrian Armenians – one of many lesser-noticed
ripple effects that could reshape countries well beyond Syria’s
neighbors – is raising questions about the future of Syria’s
diversity. And it is forcing Armenia, which depends on its strong
diaspora communities to augment its otherwise scant geopolitical heft,
to make delicate calculations about whether to encourage their exodus
or slow it.

For now, Armenia is hedging its bets. It is sending aid to Armenians
in Syria, helping them stay and survive. But it is also helping them
come to Armenia, temporarily or permanently, by fast-tracking visas,
residency permits and citizenship.

`Our policy is to help them the way they tell us to help them,’ said
Vigen Sargsyan, the chief of staff to Armenia’s president, Serzh
Sargsyan.

About 6,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Armenia as fighting engulfs
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, where an estimated 80,000 of Syria’s
120,000 Armenians live. More arrive each week even as a few trickle
back, unable to afford Yerevan or stay away from houses and businesses
they left behind unguarded in Syria.

Ethnic Armenians are a fraction of an accelerating flood of fleeing
Syrians expected to reach 700,000 by year’s end, mainly in Turkey,
Jordan and Lebanon. But since the Armenians, unlike other Syrians, can
easily acquire an alternative nationality, Syria could see one of its
vibrant communities permanently diminished.

Syrian Armenians are known for their gold and silver craftsmanship and
exquisite cuisine. They are also a critical component of Syria’s
connection to Russia and the West, serving an intermediary role
through their relations with the global Armenian diaspora.

Aleppo represents the last vestiges of Western Armenia, which was
historically divided from what is now modern-day Armenia by Mount
Ararat, a separation that through the centuries gave rise to different
languages and cultures.

While Syrian Armenians have remained officially neutral in Syria’s
civil war, as Christians many are wary of the rebels’ Islamist
strains, and as Armenians suspicious of the rebels’ Turkish support.

The Cilician School, with 250 students, reflects the ambivalence of
Syrian Armenians here: many want to return to their existence in the
diaspora, even as they are welcomed in their historical homeland.

`Armenia always said, `Come to your home.’ They always asked us to
come back,’ said a man who identified himself only as Harout and was
visiting a new Syrian Armenian club here in Yerevan, the capital.
`Honestly, I love Armenia, but I wouldn’t leave Syria. I am praying
just to go back.’

For Armenia, the Syrians’ arrival reignites a debate over how to
manage its relationship with Armenians in the diaspora: encourage them
to immigrate or keep them where they are, from the United States to
the Middle East, generous with remittances and committed to lobbying
abroad for Armenia’s interests.

Advocates of resettlement contend that Syria’s loss could ultimately
be Armenia’s gain. Not only do they want to protect fellow Armenians,
they want Syrian Armenians – often skilled, wealthy, educated and
entrepreneurial – to help the struggling post-Soviet economy, stem
high emigration and bring new ideas.

`Such diversity only enriches a nation,’ said Vahe Yacoubian, a lawyer
based in California who invests in Armenia and has advised the
government.

So the government is easing relocation. Syrians in Armenia can use
Syrian drivers’ licenses, obtain free medical care and pay local
tuition at universities. Governmental and private groups help Syrian
Armenians find jobs and transfer businesses to Armenia.

A vociferous minority has seized on fears of violence in Syria – and
memories of the Ottoman genocide – to push for a larger nationalist
goal, the return of all Armenians to the country.

`This is our land – not L.A., not New York, not Syria,’ said Vartan
Marashlyan, Armenia’s former deputy diaspora minister and the
executive director of Repat Armenia, an organization founded in August
to `actively champion’ what it calls the `repatriation’ of Armenians
from around the world.

Syrian Armenians who yearn for Syria `want to be in the Aleppo of one
year ago,’ a setting whose peaceful coexistence may not return, he
said. Referring to estimates of genocide deaths, he added, `We lost
1.5 million people to this mentality that it will all work out.’

But homesick Syrian Armenians find resettling hard to contemplate.
They point out that nationalists like Mr. Marashlyan came to Armenia
by choice, not fleeing violence.

`They want to put the label `repat’ on me,’ said Harout Ekmanian, a
Syrian Armenian journalist from Aleppo. `I am a Syrian in exile.’

Few Syrian Armenians have heeded past calls to immigrate, even after
Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. They considered
themselves Syrian, speaking Arabic and Western Armenian, not the
Eastern Armenian spoken in Armenia.

Still, many contributed money and support to the fledgling state,
especially during a territorial war with Azerbaijan that ended in 1994
and still simmers.

Armenia, too, needs its influential Middle East diaspora to navigate
regional tensions, said Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the Civilitas
Foundation in Yerevan and a former Foreign Ministry official. She said
ethnic Armenians in Arab countries and Iran had helped keep the
dispute between Armenia, a largely Christian country, and Azerbaijan,
which is mainly Muslim, from gaining traction as a pan-Muslim issue,
urging their governments not to take sides.

Tehran’s Armenian community also promotes crucial trade with
neighboring Iran, she said. Armenia is landlocked, and its borders
with Azerbaijan, and its ally Turkey, are closed, making Iran a
lifeline. `If those communities disappear, those human relations
disappear,’ Ms. Ghazarian said. `Then we are left without good
friends.’

Armenia has kept neutral on Syria’s uprising and has worked hard to
aid people inside Syria. In recent months, three cargo planes carrying
food and donations from Armenians flew from Yerevan to Aleppo, after
intense negotiations with both Syria, which has severely limited
external aid, and Turkey, which normally bans Armenian cargo from its
airspace.

The aid was distributed in Armenian neighborhoods, but without regard
to sect or ethnicity.

`We consider Syria our neighbor,’ said Vahan Hovhannisyan, a
Parliament member who oversaw the effort. Armenians are `grateful to
Syria,’ he said, because after the genocide, `Syria gave them back
life.’

The government recognizes that Syria is the only home several
generations of Syrian Armenians know. It approved the Cilician
School’s Syrian curriculum and Western Armenian instruction. An
Armenian political party covers costs; tuition is free.

`They feel like Syria is their home,’ said Amalia Qocharyan, an
Armenian education official. `But the reality is they have two
homelands, Syria and Armenia.’

At the school, a class of seventh graders was asked who missed Syria.
They answered in unison, in Arabic.

`Ana,’ they said. `Me.’

Asked about life in Yerevan, they were quieter. They said they missed
houses and friends; one said he could not be happy seeing pictures of
fighting in Aleppo.

`In Aleppo, I used to see the Armenian flag, and I wanted to go,’ said
Vana, 11. `Here, when I see the Syrian flag, I just want to go home.’

This article was financed in part by a grant from the Pulitzer Center
on Crisis Reporting.

FRANCE 24
Dec 12 2012

Jerusalem sites sprayed with anti-Christian graffiti

AFP – Vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on a monastery and a
Christian cemetery in Jerusalem overnight, in two apparent “price-tag”
attacks, police told AFP on Wednesday.

“Overnight, graffiti was sprayed on the gates of the entrance of the
Armenian cemetery reading ‘Jesus is a son of a bitch’ in Hebrew, and
on a monastery belonging to the Greek Orthodox saying the same thing,”
police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Samri said the attackers also wrote “Happy Hannukah” and “price tag”
at the second site, the Valley of the Cross monastery, and slashed the
tyres of nearby cars.

“Price tag” is a euphemism for revenge hate crimes by Israeli
extremists, which normally target Palestinians and Arabs.

Initially carried out in retaliation for state moves to dismantle
unauthorised settler outposts, they have become increasingly unrelated
to any specific government measures.

The attacks tend to involve the vandalism or destruction of
Palestinian property and have included multiple arson attacks on cars,
mosques and olive trees.

Perpetrators are rarely caught.

At first, the attacks were predominantly in the West Bank, but they
have expanded over time to include sites inside Israel, and in
Jerusalem. In recent months, Christian sites have been targeted as
well.

Samri said a third apparent “price tag” attack had been reported in a
West Bank village called Shukba, near the city of Ramallah, in which
attackers set fire to a car and sprayed “price tag” and “happy
holidays” nearby.

Police were investigating all three attacks, she said.