West Bankupdated 1h ago2 min read
Israeli Settlers Attack Washington Post Photographer Heidi Levine During West Bank Olive Harvest Siege
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Israeli settlers attacked the olive harvest near Ramallah, injuring Palestinians and a Washington Post photographer. Israeli police and Shin Bet detained 10 settlers in a Ramallah-area operation weekend violence.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Israeli Settlers With IDF Soldiers Assault Palestinian Olive Farmers Near Ramallah →
Gas, raids, and a journalist
In Abu Falah, West Bank, Ehmeid Hamayel walked through an olive grove strewn with spent tear gas canisters and burned shrubs as Israeli settlers repeatedly harassed farmers and residents during an olive harvest siege.
A Friday attack left Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine with four fractured vertebrae and a broken rib, after settlers kicked and beat her while she lay on the ground and she wore a vest marked PRESS on front and back.
Settlers sneaked around 2 a.m. Wednesday to Nader Abu Murrah’s trailer on the outskirts of the town and poured gasoline on the farmer as he slept in bed.
Ehmeid Hamayel told the Washington Post that he and Raed Hamayel, 35, would update a WhatsApp chat group if they saw Israeli settlers coming down the mountain, and he said, "They’ve even tried to attack us inside our homes at least 12 times."
Arrests, investigations, and condemnation
Israel Police and the Shin Bet detained ten suspects at dawn in a pre-dawn operation nicknamed 'Olive Leaf' across several locations around Ramallah, with Border Police, the Army, and the police air unit supporting the raid. Moshe Pinchi, the head of Israeli Police in the West Bank, said the operation sought "evidence, findings and testimonies" to bring settlers to justice after a weekend of violence that included a "violent assault on a female journalist."
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the attacks and wrote that he strongly condemned "this outrageous and shocking violence, both the terrible attack on Heidi and other grave incidents of violence." Hezbollah? no, Herzog also called on authorities to act with full force and said, "Each incident is being thoroughly investigated, and we await the findings," while the Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine described being kicked for about ten minutes before Palestinians rescued her.
A wider campaign and what’s at stake
Democracy Now! described Friday’s attack in Abu Falah as settlers, with the backing of soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces, throwing stones at Palestinian farmers, setting olive trees on fire, and expelling people from their fields during the olive harvest. Jasper Nathaniel told Democracy Now! that he stepped in after seeing Levine attacked and said, "It looked like they were going to kill her," while he described Palestinian youths driving settlers back by throwing stones.
Israeli opposition leaders and U.S. officials condemned the attack on Levine, and Ilan Paz said, "The reason behind it is that the Israeli government supports it." Itamar Ben Gvir told Israeli television that a handful of "hilltop youth" may have crossed the line, while he insisted that "the victims in the West Bank were Jews — not Palestinians forced from their homes," as residents said the violence threatened their ability to harvest and live in their communities.