Masked Israeli settlers on Friday attacked Palestinians harvesting olives near the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Video showed about 20 masked men coming down from a settlement outpost into the olive grove; two cars and part of the grove were set on fire.
The Palestine Red Crescent treated three people in Abu Falah, including a man shot in the thigh by Israeli soldiers, according to witnesses and WAFA. Four Palestinians were injured in a settler attack on olive pickers in Burqa, and a civil defense volunteer was hurt in Turmus Ayya, where settlers burned vehicles and olive trees.
Attack on Washington Post photographer
Veteran Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, 64, was knocked down and repeatedly kicked, and her cameras and phone were stolen despite her helmet and “Press” vest. “They kicked me for about 10 minutes, and there were no Israeli soldiers,” she said from hospital in Ramallah. The paper called for a thorough investigation, and the Israeli military said it condemned the incident and had opened an investigation.
Washington Post managing editor Matt Murray said Levine was wearing markings that clearly identified her as a journalist, adding that the paper was outraged that someone doing her job as a journalist had been attacked, and called on the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation. Palestinian rights group Al-Baydar said Levine was taken to Al-Istishari Hospital. According to the Palestine Red Crescent, the Civil Defense and Al-Baydar, at least 12 Palestinians, most of them olive-picking farmers, were injured in attacks across the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorates during the day.
486 attacks in 18 days
Israeli rights group Yesh Din documented 486 violent incidents against Palestinians in 181 localities over 18 days, 234 of them linked to the olive harvest. Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, was killed during an attack on olive pickers near Burqa on Oct. 7, and AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh was beaten on Oct. 6.
The Palestinian Civil Defense Directorate also said that a team sent to put out three cars torched by settlers in Turmus Ayya came under attack, with one member beaten and the agency’s response vehicle set on fire. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said it had documented at least 136 attacks linked to the olive harvest since the beginning of October.
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said 34 attacks targeting farmers and olive pickers were recorded across six governorates on Friday, injuring at least 19 people, and that five vehicles, one of them belonging to the Civil Defense, were set on fire. Fifteen of the attacks took place in Ramallah and al-Bireh and 13 in Nablus. In Burqa, two children aged 8 and 12 from a family harvesting olives and their 45-year-old father were also beaten and injured.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, described the attack in Abu Falah as “a savage crime in every sense.” Barghouti argued that the Trump administration’s silence despite attacks on US citizens and journalists provided political cover for settler violence.
