Israeli Police Detain 10 After Attacks on Journalist, Diplomats in West Bank
Israeli police detained 10 people in a rare raid against West Bank settlers after violence over the weekend in the occupied West Bank. The Guardian
Police carried out the arrests at dawn on suspicion of involvement in the weekend attacks. Those held were Israelis, police said. The Times of Israel On Monday morning, police released footage of the raid and said the 10 were connected with attacks on foreigners and construction of an illegal outpost. A court extended the detention of six men connected with the attacks on foreigners to between three and four days.
The weekend violence included an assault on Friday on Heidi Levine, a photojournalist for the Washington Post, while she covered the olive harvest in a Palestinian village. Levine was knocked down, kicked and beaten by a group of masked Israeli men. Palestinians harvesting olives were attacked in the same incident, with rocks hurled at them.
Levine described the assault as an "attempted lynching." She suffered four broken vertebrae and a broken rib, a finger torn open that required surgery, and lacerations across her body. Speaking from her hospital bed in an interview with the BBC on Monday, she said she was "practically, basically lynched by a gang of Jewish settlers in the area of Ramallah." She said her helmet and body armour prevented more serious injuries.
The next day, men armed with sticks and iron bars attacked European diplomats and Palestinians harvesting olives outside Taybeh. A visiting French mayor was assaulted, the window of an official car was smashed, and a young Palestinian man was severely injured.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to an "alleged attack" on Levine and "unproven allegations" that diplomats had been targeted.
The group Yesh Din documented 561 incidents of settler and soldier violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over three weeks since 27 September. The Guardian Its executive director, Ziv Stahl, said 94% of investigations into cases of settler violence against Palestinians were closed without indictments.
