Settlers beat US photojournalist in the West Bank
The attack came during the olive harvest near Ramallah; the Israeli army says it will examine what happened.
Israeli settlers beat an American photojournalist and Palestinian farmers who were picking olives on Friday in Abu Falah, a village northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. The best known of those attacked is Heidi Levine, who works for The Washington Post.
About 80 settlers, many with their faces covered, came down a hill toward an olive grove, according to witnesses cited by The Times of Israel. Some threw stones with slings and the villagers answered in kind. A video shows masked people hitting Levine with sticks before running off. "They just kept kicking me and kicking me," she told the Israeli paper.
Paramedics took her to a hospital in Ramallah, and she is in stable condition. She said her body armor and helmet protected her.
The Israeli army said it will examine "all circumstances" of the incident, and police announced that investigators will enter the area escorted by soldiers to take testimony. The Binyamin Regional Council, which represents settlers, called the incident a "planned provocation" and said journalists were filming the Israelis' reactions.
Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the scene, told Al Jazeera that soldiers arrived after the assault, fired shots, launched tear gas and let the settlers go without arresting them. A witness and the Palestinian news agency Wafa say soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the thigh. According to the army, the shot was aimed at a suspect who charged at the troops carrying something sharp.
There were attacks in other places. In Turmus Ayya, Wafa reported three vehicles set on fire and a Palestinian Civil Defense volunteer injured. In Burqa, according to Al Jazeera, four Palestinians were hurt.
The Israeli rights group Yesh Din counts at least 170 settler attacks since Sept. 27, according to Reuters, cited by Al Jazeera. On Oct. 6, settlers had already beaten AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58. Matt Murray, executive editor of The Washington Post, said the paper is outraged and calls for a thorough investigation.
Neither of the two sources reports so far an official U.S. reaction or any arrests over the beating of Levine.
