Court frees nine suspects to house arrest

An Israeli court in Jerusalem ordered the release of nine of the 10 settler suspects late on Wednesday, 21 October, according to Honenu, a law firm that represents Israeli settlers. Police said one suspect remained in custody and that the investigation into the violent incidents was continuing. The suspects had been presented to court on Wednesday, two days after police announced their arrests on Monday, 19 October. Netanyahu's office defended the settlers and described coverage of the attacks as a campaign of defamation. Honenu lawyer Assaf Gonen argued that the arrests had been made under pressure from the media and foreign interests.

Attacks on a photojournalist and diplomats

Heidi Levine, a 64-year-old photojournalist for The Washington Post, was attacked by masked settlers on Friday, 16 October, while covering the olive harvest in Abu Falah, north of Ramallah. Observador reported that she suffered four fractures in her vertebrae and two broken ribs, and she was discharged on Wednesday from a hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel. The Foreign Press Association in Israel said the attackers also stole her passport, wallet, phone and work equipment. Levine said the assault only ended when Palestinian youths hurled stones with slingshots and forced the attackers back, and she said she intends to return to the field. A separate attack targeted French, Belgian and Polish diplomats and a French mayor, Bernard Baudoux of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, who were visiting a Palestinian community in another part of the West Bank.

The rights group Yesh Din described how rarely arrests follow such attacks.

“In the vast majority of attacks against Palestinians, no arrests are made at all.”

Harvest violence in figures

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded at least 160 violent incidents involving settlers and linked to the harvest during the first two weeks of October, some with Israeli forces taking part or providing protection. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said it documented 17 pogroms by Israeli forces and settlers against farmers and their land, and counted 409 attacks in October, 317 by settlers and 92 by Israeli forces. Nablus recorded the most attacks, 166, followed by Salfit with 91. The commission's tally includes theft of crops, burning of olive trees, live fire and threats at gunpoint. A Palestinian man from Burqa died of wounds from settler gunfire sustained while picking olives on 7 October.

Settlers317

Israeli forces92

Settlers

317 attacks

Israeli forces

92 attacks

Data from the article text

Election backdrop and settlement policy

On Thursday, 22 October, Ben Gvir, Israel's national security minister, announced that 11 more West Bank settlements had been added to the list where residents can obtain gun-carry permits, five days before legislative elections on Tuesday, 27 October. The additions include Asif, Homesh, Sahlav and Eival, among others, and three of them, Ganim, Kadim and Homesh, were dismantled in 2005 under Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan. Hamas condemned the decision as an escalation of the occupation. Israeli rights groups cited by the report say the current government has overseen 40,000 housing units in illegal settlements, control of 18% of farmland and the expulsion of 118 herding communities. Peace Now's July report counted 104 settlements approved by the government, 38 of them new.

International reaction

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday, 18 October, that Washington was very concerned about footage of the attack on the photojournalist and had urged Israel to take firm action. France, Belgium and Poland also urged Israel to act. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post on X on Thursday that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory was out of control, with Palestinians facing daily settler attacks. The UN human rights office asked governments and donors to move beyond condemnation to concrete action and described the start of the olive season as grim.