Three arrested in West Bank after clash between Israelis, Palestinians as olive harvest continues

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Three suspects were arrested on Saturday following a clash between Israelis and Palestinians near the village of Duma amid the ongoing olive harvest.A security source confirmed that police officers and IDF soldiers were called to the scene, where they separated the two groups and arrested three suspects, who were subsequently taken in for police questioning.

The arrests come following a report by The Guardian on Tuesday that a 23-person multinational delegation aiming to meet Palestinians in the West Bank during olive harvest season was banned from entering the territory.

The group, comprising French, Spanish, Luxembourgish, Swiss, Greek, Danish, Irish, and American nationals, planned to attend Progressive International's Second Ramallah Congress in November, co-hosted with Birzeit University.The program allows participants to "hear expert testimony, deliberate the economic and legal dimensions of occupation, and prepare a collective roadmap for urgent international action," according to the congress's website.UK parliament member: Decision to ban group's entry 'political'"They made a political decision very clearly based on the fact they didn't want people to witness what's been going on in the West Bank, especially ahead of the elections," said UK parliament member Sam Tarry.Tarry claimed Israeli authorities stopped and held the group for about nine hours before refusing them entry, without explaining why.

UK Labour Party parliament member Clive Lewis told The Guardian that the group was "detained, taken aside and then interrogated. People were shouted at. We were asked why we were going in, what was happening, why our stories were one way or the other. The bottom line was it was a deeply unpleasant experience."Simcha Pasko and Asher Smith contributed to this report.

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What we found (3)

The Jerusalem Post reports an incident near Duma during the olive harvest as a two-sided clash between Israelis and Palestinians, never says the Israelis were settlers and never says who attacked whom or who was arrested. Its only source on the incident is an unnamed security source, whose account it says was confirmed, while a British MP's account of the delegation's treatment is something he claimed.

Softens settler violence
Minor
“clash between Israelis, Palestinians”
Why this matters
The headline calls the incident a clash between Israelis and Palestinians, as if two equal sides collided.
The impression it gives
Two groups fought each other on equal terms, with no attacker and no target.
The context
The article gives no account of who attacked whom. During this same harvest, other coverage records Israeli occupiers attacking olive pickers, and the paper's own earlier reporting names settlers and settler violence in the West Bank. The headline drops the word settlers entirely.
How we know
- Anadolu Agency (English) reported“Israeli occupiers attacked olive pickers and a foreign solidarity activist in Kafr Malik”Palestinian injured, 2 arrested in Israeli attacks on olive pickers in occupied West Bank (opens in a new tab)
- The Jerusalem Post wrote earlier“security forces were unable to prevent incidents of settler violence in the Binyamin region, including the torching of Palestinian vehicles”IDF imposes West Bank closures, reinforces troops to prevent Election Day violence (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article
“a clash between Israelis and Palestinians near the village of Duma”
Why this matters
The body repeats the clash wording and calls the Israelis near a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank simply Israelis.
The impression it gives
Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians met and fought near Duma during the harvest.
The context
Israelis present near Duma during the olive harvest are settlers, and the paper itself used that word for an earlier incident of the same kind. The article never says who started the violence, whether anyone was hurt or whose harvest was disrupted.
How we know
- The Jerusalem Post wrote earlier“clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians near the town of Abu Falah”Two injured in clash between Israelis, Palestinians near Kedumim in West Bank, IDF investigating (opens in a new tab)
- Anadolu Agency (English) reported“attacks by the Israeli army and Israeli occupiers targeting olive pickers across the occupied West Bank”Palestinian injured, 2 arrested in Israeli attacks on olive pickers in occupied West Bank (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article
“they separated the two groups”
Why this matters
These words cast police and IOF soldiers as neutral referees standing between two equal sides.
The impression it gives
The occupation forces arrived as impartial peacekeepers.
The context
Settlers in the West Bank operate armed by the Israeli state and accompanied by the Israeli army, and the same week's coverage reports attacks by the army as well as by occupiers on olive pickers.
How we know
- On the recordWest Bank settlers operate armed by the Israeli state and accompanied by the Israeli army.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
- Anadolu Agency (English) reported“attacks by the Israeli army and Israeli occupiers targeting olive pickers”Palestinian injured, 2 arrested in Israeli attacks on olive pickers in occupied West Bank (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article
Uses a loaded word
Minor
“Tarry claimed Israeli authorities stopped and held the group”
Why this matters
The Jerusalem Post says the MP claimed his account, while earlier in the same passage it says a security source confirmed its account.
The impression it gives
The security source's version is established and the MP's version is doubtful.
The context
Both are accounts from one party. The paper gives the unnamed security source the verb of fact and the named MP the verb of doubt, and a second MP, Clive Lewis, gives a matching account of detention and interrogation.
How we know
- Elsewhere in the article“the group was "detained, taken aside and then interrogated.”
Show it in the article
One side gets the space
Minor
“A security source confirmed”
Why this matters
The only source for the Duma incident is an unnamed Israeli security source.
The impression it gives
The security account is the whole story of what happened near Duma.
The context
No resident of Duma, no Palestinian harvester and no Palestinian body is quoted about an incident on their own land.
How we know
- On the recordReporting on Israel's assault on Gaza and on the Greens' Zionism motion has given Israeli, pro-Israel and Israeli-government sources far more space than Palestinian voices, who are quoted least when the story concerns them.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article

How other outlets reported it

Anadolu Agency (English)Palestinian injured, 2 arrested in Israeli attacks on olive pickers in occupied West Bank (opens in a new tab)

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Three arrested in West Bank after clash between Israelis, Palestinians as olive harvest continues

Softens settler violence

Uses a loaded word

One side gets the space

How other outlets reported it

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