A destroyed vine. Photo: Tazpit News Agency

Some 3,000 Jewish owned vine saplings, situated near Shiloh in the West Bank, were destroyed by Arab vandals over the past few days. The vineyards are visited periodically during the current season, so the vandalism was only discovered this morning. The damage is estimated at 200,000 NIS (roughly $54,000) .

Footprints leading to the Arab village of Kutzrah were discovered by IDF trackers during their initial investigation. About a year ago, a quarter of an acre of produce was destroyed in the same vineyard.

Itamar Weiss, a worker at the vineyards, told Tazpit News Agency: “This morning we discovered the difficult scene of some 3,000 destroyed vines. Unfortunately, this is the not the first time we are experiencing such incidents. We expect these crimes to be treated with the same force that crimes throughput the rest of Israel are treated and investigated. This is the fourth time this vineyard has been targeted in the past years, and that testifies to the fact that such crimes against Jewish owned property are not dealt with properly, even though it is known were the perpetrators come from.”

Israeli Police issued the following statement: “This morning a complaint regarding the destruction of 2.5 acres of vineyards owned by the Achiyah Farm was received. An investigation has been launched to reveal those involved.”

This incident is one of many attacks executed by Arabs against Jewish agriculture and farming infrastructure in the West Bank. In the beginning of November, Tazpit News Agency reported that a herd of some 400 goats was stolen from Avraham Hertzlich, a farmer from Benyamin. Erez Ben Sa’adon’s olive grove, situated near Shiloh, was vandalized at around the same time. Many of the trees were uprooted or cut down, and the irrigation system was damaged, and about a month ago, 70 sheep were stolen from a pen in Sussia.

A video of the destroyed vine saplings can be viewed below.