On Friday, roughly 80 armed Israeli settlers poured down from a hill overlooking Abu Falah’s terraced olive groves, each armed with gas canisters or slings. They hurled rocks toward the villagers harvesting the fruit, leaving at least two Palestinians wounded, one of whom was a Washington Post photographer.
Shortly after the assault began, Israeli military jeeps rushed into the village, kicking up dust as villagers fled. Soldiers then opened fire with tear gas toward the Palestinians. The Israeli Defense Forces said it fired warning shots, claiming it perceived a threat from a person on the ground.
Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist, was struck and taken to a hospital in Ramallah. From the bed, she said she was pushed to the ground and that her flak jacket and helmet saved her life. The Washington Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, demanded a full investigation into the incident.
Yesh Din, an Israeli settlements monitoring group, has logged 170 attacks on Palestinians since the start of the olive harvest on September 27. The surge has coincided with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push for new settlement outposts, a policy widely condemned by the United Nations and Britain. The West Bank hosts about 500,000 settlers and 3 million Palestinians, with most nations considering the settlements illegal under international law.
The Israeli military will conduct an internal inquiry into the shooting, while the Washington Post plans to file a formal complaint with Israeli authorities. Both sides have called for accountability before a new round of diplomatic talks, which began last week, can proceed.