Israeli settlers attack European diplomats, beat French mayor

JERUSALEM: Israeli settlers on Saturday (Oct 17) attacked a convoy of European diplomats in the West Bank and beat up a visiting French mayor, witnesses said, a day after an American photographer was similarly set upon as violence escalates ahead of bitterly fought elections.

The 78-year-old mayor said masked settlers yelled defamatory comments about France, kicked him and hit him with iron bars as he joined Palestinian olive farmers in the West Bank alongside the top French and Belgian representatives in Jerusalem and Polish diplomats.

"I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government," Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, told AFP after he was attacked.

"The whole world needs to know what's happening," he said. "For me, I'll go back to my country and everything will be fine. Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here."

Baudoux, who was wearing a sash with the French tricolour, was seen collapsed on the side of the car after the attack but he did not need hospital care.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement that Israel must "urgently halt criminal violence" and arrest those responsible for attacking Baudoux, with his Belgian counterpart issuing a similar call.

Election season

The attack came just one day after settlers beat an American photographer for The Washington Post, who was in moderate condition on Saturday after suffering broken vertebrae.

Israel's foreign ministry condemned the attack on the diplomats and Israeli police promised to open an investigation.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking to shore up support from the fiercely pro-settlement far-right in the Oct 27 election, instead alleged a "smear" campaign against settlers.

Netanyahu said the diplomats should have coordinated their movements with the Israeli military and pointed out that Baudoux is a communist known for supporting the Palestinian cause.

"We urge caution before drawing conclusions" about the attacks, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

His main rival in the elections, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, strongly criticised Netanyahu over the violence, saying it was "burning away the little legitimacy the State of Israel still possesses".

The attacks are "Jewish terrorism, under the auspices of the Israeli government", Eisenkot said.

Attacks on cultural symbol

Baudoux, the mayor, said he had come to the town of Taybeh, a Christian stronghold, along with his local pastor from France to sign a goodwill agreement.

He was attacked just as he joined the harvest as a symbolic gesture with the Palestinians, for whom olives are an important cultural symbol.

Extremist Israelis have issued calls to stop the Palestinians' annual harvest after months of escalating attacks in which settlers have stolen land and property. There has also been violence against Israelis, with a Palestinian shooting a settler dead last month.

Bashar Fawadleh, a priest in Taybeh, said settlers had already attacked the harvest and snatched olives before beating the mayor.

"One person was hit in the head and needed stitches. They also beat up an older lady in her 70s after insulting her with very bad words," the pastor told AFP.

The West Bank violence has shocked much of the world, with Britain spearheading economic sanctions that in turn led Israel to close the British consulate in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu had also sought to throw doubt on the circumstances behind the beating Friday of the photographer, Heidi Levine, suggesting that Palestinians and "far-left" activists caused trouble.

But President Isaac Herzog, who holds a mostly ceremonial role, took the initiative Saturday to call Levine in the hospital, saying the attack was "outrageous and shocking" and weighed on his conscience.

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said the beating was "a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards", and demanded Israel prosecute and jail the assailants.

Israel Gantz, head of an umbrella settler group, blamed recent incidents on "groups of provocateurs and terrorists" but implicitly acknowledged some Israelis' responsibility, saying that they harmed the settlers' cause.

Settlers earlier this month also beat up AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh as he covered the olive harvest tensions, fracturing several of his ribs and stealing his camera.

Netanyahu's government has ramped up approval of West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967, alongside three million Palestinians.