A US photojournalist was hospitalised after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank on Friday, in one of several violent incidents targeting farmers during the annual harvest season.
About 80 masked settlers descended on the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, throwing stones, using slingshots and setting olive trees on fire. At least two people were injured in the assault.
Heidi Levine, 64, an American freelance photojournalist working for The Washington Post, was beaten to the ground during the attack. She was wearing a protective vest marked "PRESS" on the front and back. Her cameras and phone were taken from her during the assault.
Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, described the scene. "We looked and saw that there was a journalist on the ground with people surrounding her, beating her, clubbing her, robbing her, pulling her up, beating her again and kicking her," he told reporters.
Levine later told reporters that her attackers "just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times."
Nathaniel said he and others reached Levine when the settlers briefly backed away, but she was unable to stand. "She was in very, very bad shape. She couldn't really get up off the ground," he said. As they helped her toward paramedics, settlers charged again, throwing more stones.
Levine was eventually taken to hospital in Ramallah.
Nathaniel said Israeli soldiers arrived after the settler assault and opened fire and used tear gas against Palestinians. A Palestinian man was shot in the leg. "They do nothing to stop the settlers, and they speed into town and start firing their guns and tear-gassing, and they shoot a Palestinian man in the leg," he said.
He added that soldiers pointed their weapons at paramedics treating the wounded man and shoved journalists at the scene. The injured man was eventually taken away by ambulance.
A witness who spoke to reporters and the Palestinian news agency Wafa also confirmed that a Palestinian man was shot in the thigh by Israeli soldiers during the incident. Wafa further reported that Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at Palestinians during the attack.
After the soldiers left, Palestinians returned to harvesting their olives, according to Nathaniel.
The Washington Post's executive editor, Matt Murray, condemned the assault. "We are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities," he said in a statement.
Friday's violence was not limited to Abu Falah. In Burqa, east of Ramallah, four Palestinians were reported injured in a settler attack on olive pickers. In nearby Turmus Aya, settlers assaulted farmers and burned vehicles and olive trees. A civil defence volunteer was also injured, according to Wafa.
The attacks follow the killing of Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, during an assault on Palestinians gathering olives near Burqa, northwest of Nablus, on October 7. Witnesses reported that settlers and Israeli soldiers attacked the harvesters on that occasion.
Journalists documenting the violence have also been repeatedly targeted. On October 6, armed settlers beat Palestinian photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58, with rifle butts near Aqraba, south of Nablus. He was taken to hospital with injuries to his head and torso, according to witnesses, relatives and colleagues.
The incidents form part of a broader pattern of intensifying settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank during the olive harvest period.
