Settlers Attack European Diplomats Near Taybeh in the West Bank

Israeli police said on Saturday that they have opened an investigation after a delegation of European diplomats was attacked near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, in the second day of settler violence around the olive harvest to draw in foreign visitors.

The diplomats came from France, Belgium and Poland, the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported. They were visiting an olive press near Taybeh, a Christian village near Ramallah, when settlers blocked their vehicle, demanded identification papers and damaged a Belgian consulate car, Ynet reported. Other reports said masked men surrounded the cars, threw stones and smashed a window of the Belgian vehicle.

Two diplomats and a witness told AFP that the convoy was attacked as it travelled in the area, and that the attack was caught on video. A French mayor travelling with the delegation, Bernard Baudoux, 78, of Aulnoye-Aymeries, was beaten and seen falling to the ground in the images. Diplomatic witnesses told AFP that his injuries were not life threatening. Taybeh's mayor, Suleiman Khourieh, told Al Jazeera that the French consul was part of the delegation. Palestinian olive harvesters were also attacked in the same incident, Israeli outlets reported.

What Israel's authorities said

Police said footage of the attack was circulating online and that officers had opened an assault investigation. "The Israel Police condemns violence of any kind and will work to complete these investigations until everyone who took part in these cases is brought to justice," the police statement said. Police said they had contacted Israel's Foreign Ministry to help locate the people who were attacked.

The Israeli military condemned the attack. It said the diplomatic tour had not been coordinated with it in advance, that no soldiers were at the scene, and that the incident had been reported to divisional command. None of the three European governments had commented in the first reports.

A harvest under attack

The attack came a day after settlers beat Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine near the village of Abu Falah, a few kilometres away, during Friday's olive harvest attacks. Levine was kicked for about ten minutes, she said, and needed surgery on a finger that was nearly detached. She also suffered a broken rib, broken vertebrae and cuts. Several Palestinians were injured in the same round of attacks.

Settler violence against Palestinians has surged during this year's olive harvest, and Taybeh has been a repeated target. The village's parish priest reported earlier this month that settlers entered olive groves east of Taybeh on October 7 and picked olives from trees owned by Palestinian families, breaking branches as they worked.

Saturday's attack raises the stakes. The earlier violence hit farmers and journalists. This time the people in the cars held diplomatic passports from three European states, and the investigation now sits with the police and the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.