US diplomats visit Taybeh in Palestine after settler attacks — Asharq Al-Awsat

US diplomats visited the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in Palestine, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 18 following settler attacks on European diplomats and an American photojournalist. Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

Visit by the US delegation

US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Riley Barnes, US Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch and other diplomats arrived in Taybeh. They visited the Latin Monastery church and were due to meet representatives of the Christian community.

The day before, near Taybeh, a group of masked Israeli settlers attacked diplomats from Belgium, France and Poland, a French mayor and Palestinian civilians. A day earlier, The Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was taken to hospital after being attacked while covering Palestinians harvesting olives near another village in the West Bank.

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Reaction of Israeli authorities

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and the Israeli military called the attackers of the diplomats “Israeli rioters.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the diplomats had entered a sensitive area with a history of clashes without prior coordination with the Israeli army, and described the circumstances of the attack on Levine as unclear.

France called on Israeli authorities to detain the attackers and stop criminal violence in the West Bank. As of Sunday, there had been no reports of detentions in the two latest incidents. Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din said it had documented at least 170 settler attacks on Palestinians since September 27.

On the same day, Reuters saw at least ten masked settlers dressed in black near the Palestinian city of Salfit throwing stones at Palestinians and activists harvesting olives. The farmers left the area, while Israeli border police fired tear gas toward the hills.