Israel Police have launched an investigation into Friday's violence near Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, where clashes broke out during the olive harvest. Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was among those hurt. The Binyamin Regional Council, whose area includes Abu Falah, says Israelis were pelted with stones and targeted with fireworks.
An Israel Police spokesperson said the probe was opened after the IDF reported the clashes, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"The Israel Police and the IDF view any manifestation of violence gravely, particularly when it involves journalists carrying out their work," police said, adding that they would bring those responsible to justice.
Levine is an American who has spent decades photographing conflicts around the Middle East from her base in Jerusalem. Witnesses described roughly 80 settlers descending from a hill above terraced groves where Palestinian villagers were picking olives, Ynet reported. They said many in the group wore masks, some carried gas canisters, and some set olive trees alight and hurled stones with slings. According to the same witnesses, the harvesters pulled back downhill before throwing stones in return.
"The settlers want to attack us and force us from our homes," Palestinian farmer Moutaz Abdelhadi told Reuters.
Levine said she was kicked "about 50 times" and that her flak jacket and helmet probably saved her life. "After about 10 minutes, they tried to make me get up; they pushed me back to the ground and continued kicking me," she said. She added that Palestinian colleagues eventually intervened and brought the assault to an end.
The IDF said soldiers and Border Police officers were sent in after word of a violent confrontation and employed crowd-dispersal means to break it up. Troops also fired warning shots into the air and then shot at a Palestinian suspect who allegedly ran at them holding a sharp object. The military said all circumstances of the incident would be examined.
The Binyamin Regional Council offered a sharply different version of events. It said the Palestinian Authority "led hundreds of anarchists and terrorists into a direct confrontation with Israelis near Abu Falah, all under the cover of the olive harvest." The council said PA patrol vehicles were clearly visible at the scene, even though the area is in Area B, where Israel holds security responsibility. It said footage shows fireworks fired directly at people and stones thrown at Israelis while journalists filmed. Border Police dispersed the crowd, and several activists were reportedly hurt, the council said. The council did not explicitly address Levine's injuries.
Dozens of Palestinians, accompanied by left-wing Israeli and foreign activists, set out from al-Mughayyir toward farmland belonging to Jewish farms and set a field on fire, Arutz Sheva reported. Jewish residents who hurried to fight the blaze were then hit with stones and rocks, and several Israelis sustained minor injuries. The council said it had warned early Friday that far-left activists planned to stir up confrontations and film them under the banner of "settler violence."
Incidents were also reported in Burin, Burqa and Turmus Ayya in Judea and Samaria. Those incidents reportedly included at least four vehicles set on fire, one of them a civil defense vehicle.
Accounts of Palestinian casualties differ. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated two wounded Palestinians, a 63-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man, and took them to hospital. Ynet reported that the organization treated four injured people near Burqa.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it was aware of the reports about Levine and was monitoring the situation. "The Trump administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans," an embassy spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the embassy condemns "criminal violence by any party in the West Bank" and calls for investigations, arrests and convictions.
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray said Levine had been "wearing visible markings clearly identifying her as a journalist." He said the paper was "outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job" and urged authorities to carry out a thorough investigation.
