This article was originally published by Ma'an News and is republished with permission.

Children replace a broken headstone in a Muslim cemetery that was vandalized by Israeli settlers in a Palestinian village near Nablus, in the northern West Bank. (Rami Swidan, Maan Images)

Right-wing Jewish settlers smashed several headstones and splashed paint over several others in the Ar-Ras Muslim cemetery in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Sunday morning.

The settlers were from the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, which is close to the cemetery. Several other Palestinian properties in the neighborhood were also vandalized, and more than 25 car tires were reportedly punctured.

According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the attacks came as retaliation for the evacuation of a settlement outpost established by Israeli settler Noam Federman close to Kiryat Arba.

The settlement - reported to have been a farm of sorts - was evacuated early on Sunday by several teams of Israeli forces, including military, police and border guards.

Angry settlers threw stones and assaulted Israeli officers during the evacuation, calling for a counter-attack. Four settlers were reportedly arrested during the incident.

Israeli daily Yediot Acharanot reported that Hebron settlers angry over the evacuation had publicly called for revenge against the Israeli army in the form of a terrorist attack. "We hope they are defeated by their enemies, we hope that they all become [kidnapped soldier] Gilad Shalit, that they are all killed and that they are all slaughtered, because that's what they deserve," one of the settlers was reported to have told Israel's Army Radio on Sunday.

Palestinian Hebron resident Bassam Al-Ja'bari told Ma'an that he, his family and neighbors are "assaulted by settlers almost every day, especially those settlers who occupy [the] Ar-Rajabi building in our neighborhood."

Al-Ja'bari also claimed that Israeli soldiers do not protect Palestinians from the aggressive actions of the setters, but rather "partake in their assaults on Palestinian citizens and their properties."

Additional reporting by the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

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