American diplomats visited the Christian village of Taybeh located in the West Bank, which is under Israeli occupation, on Sunday. This visit followed attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against European diplomats and an American photographer two days prior.
Diplomats' presence in Taybeh
Riley Barnes, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and Brian Burch, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, along with several other diplomats, visited the Latin Monastery Church in Taybeh and are set to meet with members of the local Christian community.
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On Saturday, Belgian, French, and Polish diplomats, as well as a French mayor and Palestinian civilians, were attacked by Israeli settlers near Taybeh. The day before, Heidi Levin, a photographer for The Washington Post, was hospitalized after being attacked while covering Palestinian olive harvesting in another West Bank village.
Israeli officials' positions
This visit coincided with support from Donald Trump, the President of the United States, for his ally, Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of the Israeli parliamentary elections on October 27. Trump has expressed his opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements this year, but his administration has not exerted significant pressure on Netanyahu's right-wing government to change its policies.
UN agencies and most countries consider Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, but Israel regards these territories as disputed rather than occupied. While Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's Foreign Minister, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attributed the attack on diplomats to "Israeli assailants," Netanyahu, whose coalition is expected to lose its parliamentary majority, spoke more cautiously.
France has urged Israeli officials to take action to arrest the assailants from Saturday and to end criminal violence in the West Bank. However, as of Sunday, there has been no announcement from Israeli officials regarding arrests in these two recent incidents.
The West Bank is home to about 500,000 settlers and at least 3 million Palestinians. Attacks by settlers against Palestinians are on the rise, and according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, at least 170 incidents have been recorded since September 27. However, legal action against Israeli settlers is rare.
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