Masked settlers attack European diplomats in the occupied West Bank
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JERUSALEM — Masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Belgium’s foreign minister said, on a second day of high-profile assaults on Palestinians and others during the sensitive olive harvest.
At least four people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest began earlier this month, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Activists say Israeli authorities do little to stop attacks that involve weapons including slingshots and guns. An attack on Friday seriously injured a Washington Post photographer and others.
In Saturday’s attack in the village of Taybeh, settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said.
Taybeh, the West Bank’s last all-Palestinian Christian village, is struggling as settler violence, checkpoints and economic woes drive tourism and families away.
“A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged. Our team is safe,” Prevot said. He linked the attack to what he called Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledged to push for further European Union sanctions.
Israeli authorities must protect Palestinians as the “occupying power,” Prevot added. “Impunity for violent settlers must end.”
The attacks came less than two weeks before closely contested elections that could end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s time in office. His government, the most nationalist and far-right in Israel’s history, faces domestic criticism over security failures and international criticism over the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel’s military called Saturday’s attack on the diplomats a “severe act of violence,” but said the visit had not been coordinated with it and no soldiers were at the scene.
Israeli police said they had opened an investigation.
Settler violence against Palestinians has soared this year and spiked further in the weeks leading up to Israel’s election on Oct. 27. The far-right government that has emboldened the settlers could soon be voted out of power — or win another term.
“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.
“I strongly condemn the severe acts of violence by Israeli rioters,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X, adding that his ministry was in contact with ambassadors from the countries concerned.
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