Israel Frees Nine of 10 Settler Suspects Held Over Attacks on US Journalist and European Diplomats
Nine of 10 Israeli settlers arrested over attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats in the West Bank have been released from custody and placed under house arrest, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The release was ordered late on Wednesday by a court in Jerusalem, according to Honenu, a right-wing law firm that represents Israeli settlers. House arrest means a suspect is kept at home rather than in a detention facility. Israeli police said one suspect remains in custody and that the investigation into the violent incidents is continuing.
The attacks include one on Heidi Levine, a photojournalist for The Washington Post. Masked settlers assaulted her while she was covering a Palestinian olive harvest, and she was hospitalised and underwent surgery on a finger, according to Al Jazeera. In a separate incident, masked settlers assaulted French, Belgian and Polish diplomats and a French mayor in the West Bank, the same outlet reported.
Palestinian bodies have also published figures on violence in the territory. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, which monitors settlement activity, said it recorded 409 attacks in October, 317 by settlers and 92 by Israeli forces. It said 166 of them took place in the Nablus area and 91 in the Salfit area. The commission also said it documented 17 pogroms by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinian farmers and land during the olive harvest.
The violence comes as the Israeli government has taken steps regarding settler activity. In September, Reuters reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered unauthorised settler outposts in the West Bank to be dismantled.
Settlements, the Israeli communities built on land Palestinians seek for a future state, are widely regarded as a central obstacle in the conflict, and attacks by settlers on Palestinians have repeatedly drawn international concern. The investigation into the recent incidents is ongoing, and the one suspect still in custody has not been released.
