Saturday, January 12, 2008

Shweika - village of car thiefs

The first village you encounter when heading north out of Tulkarem is Shweika. It is a rather large village which is almost incorporated into the city itself. Despite being home to Tulkarem's only amusement park, Megaland, Shweika is more famous, or rather infamous, for something completely different. Its car thieves.

Men from Shweika steal cars from Israel, bring them to the village and take them apart. Car carcasses can be found everywhere. The parts are sold, at a very reasonable price, and people travel from all over the West Bank to get a new door or replace a broken wind shield.

The fame of Shweika car thieves reached new heights when a song about them was released. And they're well known on the other side of the green line as well. Apparently, it is more common that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is raiding the village looking for car thieves than fighters.

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