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Israeli police detain settlers
The arrests followed a series of recent attacks by settlers, including one a few days ago on Palestinians gathered for the annual olive harvest. Dozens of settlers, dressed in black with their faces covered, descended on the harvesters, set fire to olive trees, threw giant stones, and used slingshots. One of the people injured was an American photographer working for the Washington Post, who suffered a broken rib and shattered vertebrae, according to her family.
The violence continued in another town in the West Bank, where a group of men armed with clubs went after Palestinians and a European diplomatic convoy, according to witnesses. The French foreign ministry called on Israel to stop what it described as acts of terror, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, long a supporter of the settler movement, called the attack on the journalist despicable.
The assaults are the latest in a wave of sometimes deadly extremist violence that has driven out entire Palestinian communities in the West Bank in recent years. Israeli authorities have brought charges in some of the more high-profile cases, but a rights group in Israel found that 93% of the investigations it tracked over the past two decades ended with no indictment.
Why is the olive harvest a flashpoint?
Olive trees are one of the most important crops in the West Bank, and the harvest in October and November brings whole families into the groves. A tree takes several years to bear a meaningful crop and can live for centuries, so a burned tree is a loss that lasts for years. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has repeatedly documented incidents during harvest seasons, including damage to trees and restricted access to land.
How is the West Bank divided administratively?
The 1995 Oslo II Accord split the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. Area A is under Palestinian civil and security control, Area B under Palestinian civil control with Israeli security control, and Area C under full Israeli control. Area C covers roughly 60 percent of the West Bank. Israeli settlements are located mostly in Area C.