Settlers Attack European Diplomats in West Bank
A settlers attack on European diplomats unfolded on Saturday in Taybeh, a Christian village near Ramallah, where masked Israeli settlers descended on a visiting delegation of French, Belgian and Polish representatives — as well as Palestinians gathering their olive harvest.
The delegation drew representatives from France, Belgium and Poland, and the attackers singled them out. Belgium’s consul general in Jerusalem, Anick Van Calster, was among those assaulted. Bernard Baudoux, the 78-year-old mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, was kicked and struck with iron bars, according to witnesses and diplomats who confirmed his identity. Video seen by the press showed Baudoux slumped against a car, wearing his sash in the French tricolor; he was hurt but did not need hospital care.
Diplomats’ Cars Stopped and Smashed
Cars from the French, Belgian and Polish missions had brought the diplomats to Taybeh when the settlers moved in to stop Palestinians from harvesting olives, witnesses said. At least seven masked settlers arrived on ATVs, surrounded the diplomatic vehicles, demanded identification documents, and smashed in the window of a Belgian consular vehicle, according to Israeli army radio’s account of testimonies.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said Catholic representatives were among those attacked alongside the diplomats. “Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack,” Prévot said, vowing Belgium would keep pressing for European Union sanctions against those responsible for the violence and those who support them.
Condemnation — and a Dispute Over the Facts
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he strongly condemned the “severe acts of violence by Israeli rioters,” while also faulting the consulates for failing to coordinate the trip with the military. The Israel Defense Forces issued its own condemnation, saying diplomatic representatives had been attacked by Israeli rioters in the Taybeh area.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a different line, disputing the accounts and alleging a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and West Bank settlers. His office urged the public and journalists not to turn unproven allegations into what it called a collective indictment of Israeli settlers.
Israel’s police said its West Bank district had opened an investigation into the incident and that a report had been relayed to the Foreign Ministry to locate the victims and collect testimony.
A Violent Harvest Season
The attack came one day after settlers seriously injured American photojournalist Heidi Levine of The Washington Post during the olive harvest near Ramallah, and a week after an AFP photographer was beaten in a similar assault. Observers describe the West Bank’s olive harvest as its most violent in years.
Baudoux, speaking afterward, blamed official tolerance for the violence. “I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” he said. “The whole world needs to know what’s happening.”
Source: The Guardian