Israeli police detain 10 people in rare raid against West Bank settlers
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Israeli police have detained 10 people in a rare raid against settlers, after a weekend of extreme violence in the occupied West Bank including an attack on US photojournalist Heidi Levine, which she described as an “attempted lynching”.
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She was knocked down, kicked and beaten by a group of masked Israeli men as she covered the olive harvest in a Palestinian village on Friday. The militants broke four vertebrae and a rip, ripped open her finger so it required surgery and left her with lacerations across her body.
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“I was practically, basically lynched by a gang of Jewish settlers in the area of Ramallah,” Levine said, in an interview with the BBC from her hospital bed on Monday.
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The day after that assault, Israeli militants armed with sticks and iron bars attacked a group of European diplomats and Palestinians harvesting olives outside the town of Taybeh, assaulting a visiting French mayor, smashing the window of an official car, and causing severe injuries to a young Palestinian man.
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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, questioned the accounts of Israeli militant violence, ignoring extensive video and witness evidence.
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He referenced an “alleged attack” on Levine, whose severe injuries were visible in interviews from her hospital bed, and “unproven allegations” the diplomats had been targeted by militants.
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The attacks and his response drew a furious international reaction, including from the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee – generally considered a staunch ally of the current Israeli government – European nations and the editor of the Washington Post, Matt Murray.
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On Monday morning Israeli police released footage of a rare raid on settlers, and said they had detained 10 people connected with the attacks on foreigners and construction of an illegal outpost.
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Hours later a court extended the detention of six men connected with the attacks on foreigners, to between three and four days.
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There has been little response to extreme violence against Palestinians across the West Bank, and Levine said the global focus on her attack highlighted extreme double standards.
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“People are dealing with this, undergoing attacks, losing property, losing family members, being injured all across the West Bank and nothing is being done,” she said.
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Israelis target Palestinians with near total impunity in the occupied West Bank, where arrests are unusual, indictments rare and convictions even more unusual.
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Israeli human rights group Yesh Din has documented 561 incidents of settler and soldier violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over three weeks since 27 September. That is an average of more than 26 each day.
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“It is telling that it took attacks on foreign nationals to prompt a significant response from Israeli authorities,” said the group’s executive director, Ziv Stahl. “Palestinians have endured years of systematic settler violence, with 94% of investigations into cases of settler violence against Palestinians closed without indictments.
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Levine said her body armour and helmet had prevented even more serious injuries, and she considered herself “lucky” given the ferocity of the attack. Netanyahu’s attempt to cast doubt on the attack felt like a “a big slap on my face”, she added.
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Netanyahu’s statements, apparently undermined by security forces arrests days later, were widely seen as an attempt to court far-right voters inside Israel, as the country heads into the final days of an election campaign.
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His coalition partners include extremist settlers, who support the campaign of violence that has driven thousands of Palestinians from their homes and land in the occupied West Bank over the last three years.
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Haaretz reported on Monday that political pressure was preventing the army from confronting “Jewish terrorism” in the West Bank, even when the targets were foreigners including diplomats and journalists.
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Commanders are reluctant to challenge settler leaders, or take action against Israeli civilians and soldiers who attack Palestinians, Israeli defence officials told the paper.
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Formal investigations and disciplinary procedures are limited and undermined by unofficial but clear messages of support from top commanders, the report said.
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It cited the response to an attack on a CNN crew in March. Central Command chief Maj Gen Avi Bluth suspended the battalion responsible from operational duty and announced disciplinary action against soldiers involved.
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Later that night, the brigade commander came to a base where the soldiers were staying to express his support and join them in prayer, Haaretz said.
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