Israeli settlers continue pogrom amid olive harvest in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians and an American journalist and set fire to olive trees in the West Bank, as pogroms in the occupied territory continue.

Approximately 80 masked settlers armed with clubs charged at Palestinians in the village of Abu Falah north of Ramallah as they picked fruit on Friday. The harvest, which provides an economic lifeline in the territory, has become a regular target of Israelis from illegal settlements, who have stepped up violence amid encouragement from the government for the expansion of settlements.

As the settlers confronted them – some using slingshots – the Palestinians responded by throwing rocks. Israeli ⁠⁠military jeeps sped into the area, but the attack continued, and the soldiers fired tear gas in their direction.

More settlers armed with machine guns then arrived, Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who was on the ground, told Al Jazeera.

The sound of live gunfire could be heard in the area, and a photographer saw at least one armed settler fire a gun, the Reuters news agency reported.

Describing violence in the West Bank as being “at or near an all-time high right now”, Nathaniel said everyone ran when the settlers began firing, at which point Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine fell to the ground.

“We saw that there was a journalist … on the ground [with] people beating her, clubbing her, robbing her, pulling her up, beating her again and kicking her,” Nathaniel said.

Levine later said she “probably wouldn’t even be here” had it not been for her helmet and flak jacket.

Nathaniel, who rushed to help Levine as she was being attacked by the settlers, said on X that the “only reason” he was able to reach the journalist was “because young Palestinians provided cover with rocks against machine-gun- and tear-gas-wielding settlers and soldiers”.

“It’s those [Palestinian] kids, not the settler terrorists, who the [Israeli army] was hunting after the attack,” he added.

The Washington Post confirmed that its photojournalist Levine was attacked by settlers, and said the publication was “outraged”. In a statement, the news organisation pressed for “a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities”.

A US State Department official said it condemned “criminal violence by any party in the West Bank”, adding that the department had “reached out to the Washington Post to offer consular assistance”.

The official called for “legal accountability for those responsible”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the facts around the settler attack “remain unclear”, as it offered a conditional condemnation.

“Serious questions remain”, said a post on the official X account of the prime minister’s office, calling for an investigation to “establish the facts, including who initiated the violence”.

The attack extends the increasingly frequent pogroms carried out by settlers as Israel’s government pushes to expand its illegal settlements on Palestinian land.

Last month, Amnesty International said Israel had signed at least 15 land confiscation orders covering approximately 200 dunams (20 hectares) of Palestinian land in Jenin, in the northern West Bank. The rights group said it appeared Israel intended to connect two planned settlements in the area.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), an independent conflict-monitoring organisation, said recently that settler violence in the West Bank has reached record levels.

The growing violence and Israel’s expansionist policies have come under intense scrutiny in recent months, with allies including the UK and France announcing sanctions targeting the purchase of goods from illegal settlements.

The policy change marks a dramatic shift in stance by Western countries, which had previously refrained from going beyond verbal criticism of Israel’s actions.