Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, condemned the violence against Palestinians, foreign diplomats and journalists, and said his country would continue to push for European Union sanctions on settlers.
“Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack,” he said. “This violence cannot be separated from Israel’s illegal settlement policy … the occupation of the Palestinian territory must end.”
Palestinian residents of Taybeh have lived with years of escalating attacks from Israeli militants, but settlers had never targeted foreign diplomats there, said Father Bashar Fawadleh, the town’s parish priest.
“What happened today is not an isolated incident. It represents a deeply disturbing escalation in settler violence,” Fawadleh said.