Settlers Attack European Diplomats at West Bank Olive Harvest
Wearing his red, white and blue sash, French mayor Bernard Baudoux was knocked to the ground on Saturday in Taybeh, a Christian Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank. Masked Israeli settlers attacked him and European diplomats at the olive harvest, injuring three people. The Guardian, reporting on 17 October, called it the latest attempt to stop Palestinians harvesting olives on their own land.
Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, had come to launch a twinning agreement, a formal town partnership, with Taybeh. Also present were the French consul general in Jerusalem and the Belgian and Polish consuls. The attackers smashed a window of an armoured car belonging to the Belgian mission. Before reaching the diplomats, settlers had beaten a Palestinian man so badly he needed six stitches. Since 27 September, the Israeli rights group Yesh Din has counted more than 170 settler attacks during this year's harvest.
Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, said police had opened an investigation; the Guardian reported no arrests. Sa'ar also said diplomats travelling without military coordination risked attack. An anonymous western diplomat said demanding advance notice breaches diplomatic conventions and international law. Palestinian authorities say settlers have killed at least four people since the harvest began.
Belgium's foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, said his country would keep pushing for European Union sanctions on settlers. Israel holds elections later this month, in which opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot, who called the attack "Jewish terror under the auspices of the Israeli government", hopes to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The cards of this story
from the video, click to enlarge
Well sourced and sober report on settler violence, but it offers mostly problems and only a vague mention of possible EU sanctions, with little on responses that work.
The text gives concrete facts: named people, a count of more than 170 attacks from Yesh Din, injuries, and the dates. It also shows differing views, such as the Israeli minister's claim about military coordination and the diplomat's objection, and it notes that no arrests were reported. What is missing is a real response or progress: the sanctions push and the town twinning are only mentioned in passing, and the investigation has no result yet. The score would rise with information on what protects harvesters, such as accompaniment programs, legal outcomes, or whether sanctions have worked elsewhere.
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