EU condemns Israeli settler attack on diplomats in occupied West Bank

The European Union on Sunday condemned an attack by masked Israeli settlers on a visiting delegation of European diplomats near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank. Diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland, accompanied by representatives of the Catholic Church, had come to support Palestinian olive growers; the attackers threatened them and smashed a window of a Belgian diplomatic vehicle. Bernard Baudoux, the 78-year-old mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in France, said he was beaten and thrown to the ground. The EU called for full accountability, measures to prevent further violence, respect for international law and an end to settlement expansion.