In the village of Jalud, about 27km south of Nablus, home to around 1,000 Palestinians, black graffiti reading 'Revenge', 'Go to hell', and 'Leave the village' covers the walls of schools and homes. Researchers say this is not random vandalism but reflects an extreme ideology aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence.
Residents and local officials say these acts of vandalism are often accompanied by violent attacks. Jalud has suffered five major attacks since January this year, the most recent on August 4 when attackers set fire to cars and sprayed paint on a residential building.
Misbah al-Haj Mohammed, a resident of Jalud, said some of the graffiti bears the names of settlers who carried out previous attacks, as if challenging local people. The messages sprayed on school walls aim to instill fear in children about attending class. The threats of expulsion are a signal that 'death and displacement are certain to come'.
Raed al-Haj Mohammed, head of the village council, described the graffiti as 'racist and annihilationist', often originating from the Hilltop Youth group, a decentralized network of Jewish teenagers aged 15–20 who advocate for the expulsion of Palestinians. The group takes its name from the strategy of establishing outposts on 'hilltops', setting a precedent for legalizing illegal settlements.
'When a soldier is killed in Gaza, they take revenge here and write the names of the dead on our walls,' Raed told Al Jazeera. Residents often erase the graffiti as soon as they spot it.
Azzam Abu al-Adas, a researcher on Israeli affairs, said the settlers' choice of wording 'reflects deep ideological concepts'. He cited the slogan 'Death to Arabs' as 'an explicit call for genocide, within the vision of a settler replacement aimed at achieving a state without Arabs from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean'. Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, this ideology has become 'mainstream' in Israeli society, holding that the solution to the 'Palestinian problem' can only be annihilation or permanent expulsion. Abu al-Adas also mentioned the Price Tag movement (2008), which views Palestinians as 'occupiers' of the land who must pay a price until they are forced to leave.
Researcher Walid Habbas said that burning crops, mosques, and homes 'is not a random choice', but rather aims to destroy the elements of survival and attachment to the land. The Hebrew-language graffiti is not directed at Palestinians (who cannot read it), but rather marks 'ownership' for other settlers, the Israeli government, and the public. 'The Palestinian wall becomes a banner declaring that this place, symbolically, is land that has been reclaimed,' Habbas said.
Habbas cited last month's attack on the village of Qusra, when settlers set fire to a mosque and sprayed graffiti along with the Star of David on its walls. 'Targeting a mosque is not revenge against an individual, but a blow to the structure that creates collective identity,' he stressed. The Star of David serves as a 'signature of sovereignty', implying 'this place is under our control'.
The most dangerous point, according to Habbas, is that the graffiti is written 'crudely, quickly, and without concealment' in positions visible from public roads. This action 'is not reckless', but rather 'a confident declaration that the perpetrators will not be punished', showing that 'the publicity of the crime is itself the message about the balance of power and the systematic complicity that allows this violence to recur'.
