Anne Barker reported this story on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 08:12:00

PETER CAVE: Israel is under pressure to crack down on a rising number of hate crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank.



In recent weeks and months Jewish settlers have been blamed for a spate of arson and vandalism on mosques, cars and olive trees in Arab villages.



Although the crimes are in fact thought to be revenge against the Israeli government for demolishing illegal Jewish settlements, the settlers call the attacks on Palestinians 'Price Tagging'.



Middle East correspondent Anne Barker reports.



(Call to prayer sounds)



ANNE BARKER: A few weeks ago residents at Burqa, an Arab village in the West Bank, woke to find their mosque had been set on fire overnight and the interior destroyed.



Korans and carpets were ruined and graffiti declaring war was smeared on the walls.



A few days earlier several parked cars in a nearby village were also torched.



And Sayel Kanan from the Burqa council says residents were outraged.



SAYEL KANAN: Well actually everybody is angry, very angry, because they touch every single person. See, this is a town of God and everybody come to pray here. And when they find the burn actually, everybody get anger.



ANNE BARKER: Attacks like these are not uncommon in the West Bank and appear to be the work of extremist Jewish settlers or their supporters.



Recently Israeli peace activists held a small ceremony at Burqa where they donated new Korans and carpets for the mosque to show their solidarity with the Palestinian village.



Australian born Yehiel Grenimann, from the organisation Rabbis for Human Rights, took part.



YEHIEL GRENIMANN: As the local Imam was saying, we want peace, we want an end to this terrorisation of the local population by the settler extremists.



I think, as a rabbi, a religious person, it's opposed to Torah. It's what we call (speaks Hebrew), it's sacrilegious, and I think the educators, the Rabbis, the school system which spawned these people are responsible.



ANNE BARKER: Israeli police have lately confronted several incidents of the phenomenon known as 'price tag', where Jewish settlers take revenge on Palestinians for Israeli attempts to dismantle their illegal settlements.



Hours before the attack at Burqa, Israeli authorities had moved in to demolish homes at a Jewish outpost, Mizpe Yitzhar, which even under Israeli law is illegal.



Although David Ha'ivri from one settler organisation vehemently denies Jewish settlers are behind such violence.



DAVID HA'IVRI: So far the police have apprehended people who have been accused of causing the damage, who are not really our residents. And our leadership have spoken out against causing damage to our neighbours' villages and to religious sites and so forth.



ANNE BARKER: In fact, David Ha'ivri says in many cases it's the Palestinians themselves who set fire to their own mosques.



DAVID HA'IVRI: There have been Palestinian youth who have been caught vandalising mosques in Hebron.



ANNE BARKER: In recent months the price tag violence has taken a new guise, with vandals also targeting two Israeli military bases in the West Bank.



And last week Israeli police arrested and charged at least a dozen people for those attacks. Most of them were indeed Israelis from Jewish settlements.



Although, as is often the case, there's still no one been caught or charged with the attacks at Burqa.



This is Anne Barker in Jerusalem for AM.