Washington Post Photographer Beaten in Settler Attack on West Bank Olive Harvest

Updated 15:28 UTC: Israel Police said they have opened an investigation after receiving reports of the attack, and said they treat violence seriously, in particular when it involves journalists at work, CNN reported. The Israel Defense Forces said they would examine all circumstances around the incident and called attacks on innocent civilians grave and unacceptable. The Foreign Press Association condemned the attack, said Levine was in stable condition at Ramallah Government Hospital with bandages on her hand and leg, and called on the Israeli military Central Command to protect civilians from violent mobs.

About 80 masked settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives near the village of Abu Falah in the occupied West Bank on Friday, burning trees and injuring at least two people, Reuters reported. One of the injured was Heidi Levine, a photojournalist on assignment for The Washington Post.

Reuters witnesses said the settlers, dressed in black and some carrying gas canisters, came down a hill above a terraced grove where villagers had gathered for the annual harvest, northeast of Ramallah. Some used slings to throw rocks at the villagers. Villagers moved down the hill and some threw stones back. Farmer Moutaz Abdelhadi, 42, told Reuters the settlers want to drive local families from their homes.

The attack on Levine

Video from the scene showed Levine on her side on a dirt path, covering her face with her hands, while at least three settlers stood over her. CNN reported that Levine said the group she was with pulled back when settlers ran toward them, and that attackers kicked her while she was on the ground. She said her camera bag, her phone and her cameras were broken off her, and that the attack lasted about 10 minutes.

Levine was wearing a vest marked PRESS and protective gear. She later said her helmet and flak jacket likely saved her from worse injury. Palestinian colleagues helped her away, medics took her first to a clinic in Abu Falah and then to a hospital in Ramallah, and reports from the hospital said she was in stable condition with bandages on her left hand. Palestinian medics said a second injured person was also taken to a hospital in the Ramallah area.

The newspaper responds, and the army arrives

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray said Levine was wearing visible markings that identified her as a journalist. The paper said it was relieved she had received medical care and was safe, called the attack unwarranted, and urged a thorough investigation by the authorities.

Reuters reported that at least two Israeli military jeeps drove through the area partway through the attack. The attack went on after the soldiers arrived. Soldiers fired tear gas toward the Palestinians, the sound of live gunfire was heard, and a Reuters photographer saw at least one armed settler fire a gun. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters said.

A second attack the same morning

The Abu Falah attack came after a similar attack on Friday morning near Turmus Ayya, another harvest village. Reuters said settlers there attacked a group of farmers harvesting olives and burned three cars. A witness said the attackers caught one farmer on his own and beat him.

Violence rises with the harvest

The Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din has counted at least 170 settler attacks since September 27, around the start of this year's olive harvest, Reuters reported. The harvest is a central season for Palestinian farming families, and it brings villagers into groves close to settlements and outposts. About 500,000 settlers live in the West Bank alongside at least 3 million Palestinians. UN bodies and most countries say the settlements are illegal under international law on military occupation. Israel disputes that view and calls the territory disputed.