Masked Settlers Attack European Diplomatic Convoy in West Bank Village of Taybeh

A convoy carrying European diplomats and Catholic church representatives came under attack from masked settlers Saturday in Taybeh, a Palestinian Christian town in the occupied West Bank, according to Belgium's foreign minister Maxime Prevot.

The group included Belgium's consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and Catholic officials visiting during the olive harvest. Prevot said a French mayor traveling with the delegation was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle was damaged. He said the Belgian team was not seriously hurt.

Prevot tied the attack directly to Israeli government policy in the West Bank.

"This violence cannot be separated from Israel's illegal settlement policy. Impunity for violent settlers must end."

He called on Israel, as the "occupying power," to protect Palestinians and said he would press for additional EU sanctions.

The assault came on the second straight day of high-profile violence tied to the olive harvest, a season when Palestinian farmers returning to groves near settlements have long faced settler attacks. A day earlier, a Washington Post photographer was seriously injured in a separate assault, according to the Guardian's reporting. The Palestinian health ministry says at least four people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest began earlier this month. Activists quoted in the reporting said Israeli authorities routinely fail to intervene against settlers armed with everything from slingshots to firearms; no specific case or name was offered to support that general claim.

The Israeli military described Saturday's attack on the diplomats as a "severe act of violence" but said the visit had not been coordinated with it and that no soldiers were present at the scene. Israeli police said they had opened an investigation, with a statement pledging to pursue "everyone who took part in these cases." Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, condemned the attack on social media and said his ministry was in contact with the affected countries' ambassadors.

The violence lands less than two weeks before Israeli elections that could determine whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains in office. His government has faced sustained criticism, domestically over security lapses and internationally over its record on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. No arrests had been announced in the Taybeh attack at the time of the statements.