Palestinians, US journalist attacked in West Bank pogrom: What we know

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives and severely beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine. Save Share Israeli settlersbrutally attackedPalestinian olive pickers and a photojournalist working for The Washington Post in the occupied West Bank on Friday, beating villagers and setting olive groves ablaze. The attack was among several targeting Palestinians trying to gather their olive harvest, with further assaults and arson reported in nearby communities as well. These incidents are just the latest in weeks of intensifying pogroms on local communities in the West Bank by Israelis from illegal settlements who are largely protected – or at least unrestricted – by Israeli forces. Veteran journalist Heidi Levine, 64, was taken to hospital after the assault on Friday in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. A Palestinian man was also shot in the thigh by Israeli soldiers, according to a witness who spoke to Al Jazeera and the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Here is what we know. Dozens of masked settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives, throwing stones, using slingshots and setting trees on fire. Levine, an American freelance photojournalist who works for The Washington Post, fell to the ground during the attack before she was set upon, witnesses said. “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,” Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera. Levine later told reporters that her attackers “just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times”. Levine was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” on the front and back. Her cameras and phone were taken from her during the assault, the Washington Post reported. Nathaniel said he and others managed to reach her when the settlers briefly backed away, but she struggled to stand. “She was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground,” he said. As they helped her towards paramedics, settlers charged again, throwing more stones, he added. Levine was eventually taken to hospital in Ramallah. Nathaniel said Israeli soldiers arrived after the settler assault and opened fire and used tear gas against Palestinians, shooting a man in the leg....