Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians as they were harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank on Friday, injuring several people including an American photojournalist. The Washington Post said photographer Heidi Levine was reporting in the West Bank, wearing a protective vest clearly marked as "press," when she was beaten. "Today I was brutally attacked," Levine said in a video filmed at a hospital.
"We saw in the distance, in the hilltop, I would say at least 50 masked men, slingshots. And when they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground." She said "they just kept kicking me and kicking me." They also tore her cameras and phone off her. She said medical workers rushed her in an ambulance to a hospital.
Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray said in a statement Levine has received medical care and is safe. "We are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities," Murray said. Israeli police issued a statement acknowledging reports that a foreign journalist was injured and said it would investigate the incident and "bring those involved to justice." The Post said the attack happened when Palestinians were trying to gather their olive harvest.
It said settlers set Palestinian olive groves on fire and hurled stones using slingshots. At least six people were injured in two attacks in the West Bank town of Abu Falah, outside Ramallah, on Friday, The reported citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The attacks came as groups of Israeli settlers have stepped up their assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank.
They also follow another attack earlier this month, when Israelis beat photojournalist Jaafar Ashtiyeh, as he was covering settler violence against Palestinian olive farmers in the West Bank. Sara Qudah of the Committee to Protect Journalists said Levine's beating was not an isolated incident for journalists covering the West Bank olive harvest. "It's part of a disturbing pattern of violence and harassment against journalists regardless of their nationalities," she said.
She added that the attackers have no reason to fear consequences because Israeli authorities have failed to stop them. NPR does not offer or accept money for coverage or interviews. Anyone who makes such an offer or request is not an NPR employee and does not represent NPR.
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