Israeli settlers launched coordinated attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday, targeting Palestinian olive farmers during the annual harvest season and injuring a Washington Post photographer, according to Palestinian authorities and reporting from The Guardian.
Masked settlers wielding clubs and other weapons attacked people attempting to harvest olives in multiple West Bank towns. Palestinian authorities recorded attacks in eight villages, with at least 20 people injured in the violence. Settlers burned cars and trees as part of the coordinated effort to disrupt the harvest.
Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was among those injured in the attacks. The Guardian reports that settlers hurled rocks at Palestinians and beat Levine during the incident.
Palestinian authorities characterized the attacks as part of a yearly pattern. The coordinated nature of Friday's violence across multiple villages suggests organization among settler groups, though The Guardian's excerpt does not specify details about settler organizational structures or Israeli government response to the attacks.
The olive harvest holds deep cultural and economic significance for Palestinians in the West Bank. Annual disruptions by settlers have been documented as a recurring feature of the occupation, though the specific scale and coordination of Friday's attacks across eight separate locations marks a notable incident in this pattern.