Symbolic imageSettlers beat Washington Post photographer in West Bank olive harvest attacks
Israeli settlers attacked olive pickers in several West Bank villages on Friday and beat photographer Heidi Levine. The Washington Post demanded an investigation.
In Abu Falah near Ramallah, about 80 masked settlers attacked pickers with clubs and slingshots near Israeli military vehicles, the Guardian reports; soldiers fired teargas at Palestinians who threw rocks back. Levine, wearing a vest marked "Press", was kicked repeatedly and robbed of her equipment. Palestinian authorities counted attacks in eight villages and at least 20 injured. A US State Department official condemned "criminal violence by any party". Netanyahu's office called the facts unclear and asked who started the violence, citing about 40 Israeli youths and some 200 "Arabs and far-left activists"; police opened an investigation.
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Yesh Din counts at least 170 settler attacks since 27 September. Palestinian authorities say at least four Palestinians were killed and over 100 injured in that time, while new military orders bar access to about 8,800 hectares of Area C farmland.
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Britain's new regulations, in force since Thursday, allow sanctions against those financing or facilitating serious violations of international law, which could reach firms backing E1 construction. Bids for the project close on 19 October, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Other opinions
Al Jazeera calls the attacks pogroms and reports that soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the thigh; Netanyahu's office describes a clash between two sides.