Israeli settlers attacked a group of European diplomats, a French mayor and the Archbishop of Cambrai in Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank, injuring three people and damaging a vehicle.
The incident marked the latest attempt to prevent Palestinians from harvesting olives on their own land, amid escalating violence during the annual harvest season.
Aulnoye-Aymeries Mayor Bernard Baudoux, who was wearing his official mayoral sash, was reportedly attacked and pushed to the ground on Saturday as he tried to enter a vehicle bearing diplomatic plates.
Witnesses said the masked assailants shouted “Vive la France” during the attack. Baudoux’s wife and Archbishop of Cambrai Vincent Dollmann were also threatened by a group of seven men, some of whom were armed with wooden clubs.
The group had joined an olive harvest on land belonging to the Christian town of Taybeh, alongside the French consul-general in Jerusalem, his wife and other diplomats, including representatives from Belgium and Poland.
The violence initially targeted a group of workers on a hillside near Taybeh. The settlers allegedly stole olives, kicked and verbally abused a Palestinian woman in her 70s, and beat a man so severely that he required six stitches to his head.
The attackers later approached the diplomats and Baudoux, who was visiting Taybeh to launch a twinning agreement between the Palestinian town and his municipality in northern France.
During the confrontation, the assailants smashed a window of an armoured diplomatic vehicle belonging to the Belgian delegation.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot strongly condemned the violence against Palestinians, foreign diplomats and journalists.
He said Belgium would continue pressing the European Union (EU) to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers.
“Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should not expose anyone to the risk of being attacked.
“This violence cannot be separated from Israel’s illegal settlement policy. The occupation of Palestinian territory must end,” Prévot said.
Taybeh parish priest Bashar Fawadleh said Palestinians in the town had lived in fear for years as settler violence intensified, but foreign diplomats had not previously been targeted in the area.
“What happened today is not an isolated incident. It reflects a deeply worrying escalation in settler violence,” Fawadleh said.
Since the olive harvest began in late September, Israeli settlers have increasingly used violence to prevent Palestinians from collecting olives, a crop of major economic and cultural significance to local communities.
Even the presence of Israeli activists, diplomats, religious figures and journalists has failed to deter the attacks.
“If such violence can happen in front of international witnesses, we must ask what protection remains for local families and farmers when those witnesses are no longer here.
“No one should face the risk of physical assault simply for harvesting olives from their own land,” Fawadleh said.
