At least eight villages in the occupied West Bank came under attack on Friday as Palestinians tried to gather their olive harvest. At Abu Falah, masked Israeli settlers set trees alight, hurled stones and beat farmers. Heidi Levine, an American photographer working for The Washington Post, was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked despite wearing a vest marked PRESS. Ten days earlier, AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh had also been beaten while covering the harvest.
The figures belie any suggestion of a sporadic disorder. Israeli rights group Yesh Din has recorded at least 170 settler attacks since September 27. The UN documented more than 1,600 attacks causing casualties or property damage in the first eight months of this year, affecting 275 Palestinian communities. For families dependent on olives, the destruction is not merely of trees. A crop lost today can mean a household pushed further into debt tomorrow as repeated intimidation can make cultivation of ancestral land impossible.
Equally disturbing is the conduct reported at Abu Falah after Israeli troops arrived. International media witnessed soldiers firing tear gas towards Palestinians while the settler assault continued. The military says its personnel were responding to a violent confrontation and that attacks on civilians are unacceptable. Meanwhile, the police have opened an investigation.
Israel goes to the polls on Oct 27. With pro-settler forces influential in its governing coalition, enforcement against violent settlers is also a test of political will. An inquiry without arrests, where the evidence warrants them, will merely reinforce the belief that violence carries little consequence.
The assault on an American journalist has prompted concern from Washington, whose embassy rightly invokes its duty towards US citizens. That concern must extend to Palestinian reporters and farmers who endure such attacks without diplomatic leverage.
Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for protecting civilians and ensuring access to their livelihoods. It should secure the remaining harvest, investigate the conduct of its own troops and bring perpetrators before the courts. The measure of its response will be whether farmers can return to their groves next week without needing an armed escort or a foreign journalist to bear witness.
