Israel's West Bank police chief condemns settler's 'cruel' beating of Palestinian woman
The attack, filmed in Turmus Ayya, comes amid a surge in settler assaults on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest.
Israel’s police chief for the West Bank condemned a masked settler's beating of a Palestinian woman in an attack captured on video that has reignited outrage over rising settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The video, filmed Sunday by American reporter Jasper Nathaniel, shows a masked man charging toward victim Afaf Abu Alia as she harvests olives, striking her on the head with a club and hitting her again as she lies on the ground. The incident took place in the town of Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah.
Alia, who is in her fifties, was taken to a hospital in Ramallah and was reported to be in stable condition Monday. Videos circulating online showed her conscious and speaking from a hospital bed.
Video footage shows the assailant beating two more people Nathaniel identified as “activists who had been providing protective presence.” Some reports describe them as foreign activists without further detail. The attacker appeared to be accompanied by a group of settlers, but the video did not capture them participating in the act of violence.
