The European Union on Sunday condemned an attack by masked Israeli settlers on a delegation of European diplomats in the occupied West Bank and called for "full accountability", media reported. According to media reports, envoys from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church were attacked on Saturday in Taybeh, a largely Christian village near Ramallah.
The delegation had gone to the village to assess the situation after near-daily settler attacks on Palestinians trying to bring in their olive harvest. Belgian authorities said a window of one of their consulate's cars was smashed and a French mayor was assaulted. Media reports named him as Bernard Baudoux, the 78-year-old mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries, who told the media he was thrown to the ground.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said Israel had a responsibility to bring those responsible to justice, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged Israel to halt the violence urgently. Poland said its diplomats were unharmed but demanded an explanation from Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the violence and said police had opened an investigation, and the Israeli military said it was also investigating. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, however, cast doubt on what had happened.
The attack came a day after settlers injured several Palestinians and Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine in another village, Abu Falah. The UN says settler attacks in the past two weeks alone outnumbered those recorded during the whole of last year's olive harvest.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to comment.