Photojournalist Heidi Levine leaves a hospital emergency room in a wheelchair in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. She is being treated after an attack by Israeli settlers while photographing Palestinian farmers harvesting their olives on Friday in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians while harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank on Friday, injuring several people, including an American photojournalist.
The Washington Post said photographer Heidi Levine, who was reporting in the West Bank, wearing a protective vest clearly marked “press,” when she was beaten.
“Today I was brutally attacked,” Levine said in a video filmed at a hospital. “We saw in the distance, at the top of the hill, I would say at least 50 masked men, carrying slingshots. And when they came running, I was attacked, pushed to the ground.” She said “they kept kicking and kicking me.” They also took away his cameras and phone.
She said medical staff took her by ambulance to a hospital. Washington Post Editor-in-chief Matt Murray said in a statement that Levine received medical treatment and was safe.
“We are outraged by this unjustified attack on a journalist in the line of duty and urge the authorities to fully investigate and follow up,” Murray said.
Israeli soldiers walk towards an injured Palestinian on a road after shooting him following a settler attack on Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank village of Abu Falah on Friday.
Leo Correa/AP
hide caption
Leo Correa/AP
Israeli police issued a statement acknowledging reports that a foreign journalist had been injured and said they would investigate the incident and “bring those involved to justice.”
The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it was aware and monitoring the situation. Without specifically mentioning the Levine attack, the statement said: “We are in regular dialogue with our partners to improve stability and security in the West Bank. We condemn criminal violence perpetrated by any party in the West Bank and call for investigations, arrests and convictions of those responsible.”
The Washington Job said the attack occurred as Palestinians attempted to harvest their olives. He said settlers burned Palestinian olive groves and threw stones with slingshots.
Palestinian volunteers on Friday extinguished a burned olive tree and a Palestinian-owned vehicle, apparently by Israeli settlers, near the village of Turmus Ayya, north of the city of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
On Friday, there were two dozen settler attacks on Palestinian olive pickers, leaving 20 injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
The attacks come as Israeli settler groups intensify their attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. They also follow another attack earlier this month, when Israelis beat Agence France-Presse photojournalist Jaafar Ashtiyeh while 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. “This is part of a worrying pattern of violence and harassment against journalists, regardless of their nationality,” she said. She added that the attackers have no reason to fear consequences because Israeli authorities failed to stop them.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Union also condemned the attack, calling it an “attack on press freedom” and a violation of rules protecting journalists during conflicts.
Nuha Musleh contributed reporting from Ramallah, West Bank.
Gn world
