Israeli settlers attack a Palestinian olive grove and injure an EPA photojournalist and a foreign activist.

Israeli settlers attack a Palestinian olive grove and injure an EPA photojournalist and a foreign activist.

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and foreign solidarity activists picking olives earlier today between the towns of Kusra and Jalud, south of Nablus in the West Bank, injuring European press photographer Perspoto (EPA) Alaa in Darna.

According to statements by the mayor of Qusra, Abdul Azim Wadi, a mob of armed settlers raided farmland in "Area B" where local villagers and international volunteers were gathering olive crops.

Settlers physically attacked the group and threw heavy stones at short range, hitting Badarna and causing severe bodily injuries. An international solidarity activist was also injured in a stone-throwing attack.

The attack on Badarna is part of a broader surge of state-sponsored settler violence specifically aimed at subsistence agriculture and media people documenting land confiscations across the West Bank.

On October 16, about 80 masked settlers armed with clubs charged Palestinian olive pickers in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. During that attack, 63-year-old Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levin was beaten for more than 10 minutes, suffering broken ribs and vertebrae, while settlers stole her equipment and passport.

Israeli Israeli forces routinely provide armed escort to crowds of settlers during the annual olive harvest, using tear gas and live ammunition against Palestinian landowners trying to protect their crops and property.