Oct. 16 (UPI) — Israeli settlers attacked a group of Palestinian olive pickers Friday in the West Bank, injuring a Washington Post photojournalist in the process, witnesses said.
Video captured the incident as dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinians gathering the harvest in Abu Falah. The attackers set the olive tree groves on fire and hurled rocks, Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, a blogger who recorded the incident, told The Washington Post.
Multiple journalists were attacked, including Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, 64, who could be seen in the video falling to the ground and repeatedly hit and kicked. At the time, she was wearing a protective vest with the word “PRESS” on the front and back.
An independent journalist also at the scene, Jasper Nathaniel, described the scene to Al Jazeera.
“We looked and saw that there was a journalist … on the ground with people surrounding her, beating her, clubbing her, robbing her, pulling her up, beating her again and kicking her,” Nathaniel said.
Levine, an American, was taken to a hospital in Ramallah, where she was treated. She told reporters the attackers kicked her “probably 50 times.”
Khrzhanovskiy said Israeli troops were at the scene before the attack began and “did absolutely nothing about the settlers.” He said they also fired tear gas at the Palestinians.
One witness told Al Jazeera and Wafa, the Palestinian-run news agency, that Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the leg.