Child, Four Women Among Palestinians Injured in West Bank Violence
Israeli settlers attacked a group of European diplomats near the Palestinian village of Taybeh during the olive harvest on Saturday, October 17, 2026. The delegation, which included Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish officials, and Catholic representatives, was confronted by the settlers as they visited local olive pickers. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the assailants also damaged a Belgian vehicle and assaulted a French mayor. He linked the incident to Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and warned that it could lead to further EU sanctions.
Bernard Baudoux, the French mayor who was attacked, told AFP that the violence reflected “a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government” toward settler aggression. Video posted by activist Amit Orfali shows Baudoux leaning against a car on dusty ground while masked men knocked on a driver’s window, demanded identification and brandished sticks. Orfali said the men threatened to kill them.
France’s foreign minister, Jean‑Noël Barrot, demanded that Israel arrest the “extremist settlers” who “violently assaulted” Baudoux and bring them to justice, urging an immediate halt to the “criminal violence” and protection of civilians as required by international law. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, described how settlers surrounded the diplomats’ vehicles, hurled stones and shattered windows. Israeli police have opened an investigation, and Belgium has condemned the attack.
The Israeli prime minister’s office responded on X, calling the reports “alleged” and saying they needed “compelling evidence,” even as it acknowledged the existence of published footage.
The same day, several Palestinians were injured in separate settler attacks across the occupied West Bank. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that four women and a child were among six people wounded when settlers assaulted residents of Ma’in village in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron. In Deir Ammar, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces opened fire on olive‑picking farmers, forcing them to abandon their groves, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Settlers also shot two Palestinians in the same locality.
Additional incidents were reported in Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, where Israeli forces fired on a civilian vehicle, and in Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, where settlers raided a farm at dawn and killed about 20 sheep, mayor Najeh Rustum told Al Jazeera. Odeh added that settlers destroyed olive trees across the Beit Furik plain east of Nablus, while Israeli troops arrested landowners and pickers.
In Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, settlers protected by the army fired live ammunition at farmers in the al‑Hariq area, preventing them from completing the harvest. International activist Jonathan Budlak’s vehicle was smashed in the same village, and stones were thrown at another farmer’s car. In Burqa, near Ramallah, Israeli forces and settlers blocked olive picking, and settlers attacked farmers in the Wadi al‑Sha’er area southeast of Salfit.
“What we see, whether it’s in Beit Furik, Kafr Malek, Deir Jarir or elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, is part of a campaign,” Odeh said. She noted that settlers have become increasingly bold, publicizing attack plans on social media. “There have been 300 documented attacks since the beginning of October, and that has had a devastating impact on a very important season for Palestinian farmers,” she added, pointing out that danger comes from both soldiers and settlers, as military forces often intervene to protect settlers and confront Palestinians defending their land.
The violence follows a religious ruling issued by Rabbi Dov Lior, a leading figure in the Hilltop Youth and adviser to Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir’s Jewish Power party. In the edict, Lior declared that Jews are permitted to harvest olives throughout the “Holy Land,” even in areas far from Israeli settlements, describing the act as a display of ownership and a fulfillment of a divine command to conquer the land. He asserted that the territory belongs to the Jewish people and that Palestinians have not purchased or rented it.