The West Bank has seen an especially violent olive harvest season as Israeli settlers try to physically stop Palestinians from gathering their crops. (EPA Images pic)RAMALLAH: Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked a convoy of European diplomats and beat up a visiting French mayor in an escalation of recent violence during the Palestinian olive harvest, witnesses and diplomats told AFP.
Cars from the French, Belgian and Polish missions had brought diplomats to visit Taybeh, a largely Christian village in the occupied West Bank, when settlers descended to stop Palestinians from gathering olives, witnesses said.
Masked settlers made aggressive statements towards the diplomats before kicking Bernard Baudoux, 78, the leftist mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, according to witnesses and diplomats who confirmed his identity.
