Israeli settlers attack European diplomats, beat up French mayor in West Bank

BREAKING: Israeli settlers attack a convoy of European diplomats and beat up a visiting 78-year-old French mayor in the West Bank, witnesses and diplomats say, in a new escalation during the Palestinian olive harvest.

Masked Israeli settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats in the West Bank today, and beat a 78-year-old French mayor with iron bars.

Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, was joining Palestinian farmers for the olive harvest. With him were the top French and Belgian representatives in Jerusalem, along with Polish diplomats. He says the attackers yelled abuse about France, kicked him, and struck him with bars. These confrontations have become a pattern during harvest season, and you can see the tension in the groves here.

Baudoux's own reading was blunt. He said if settlers behave like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government. And he added something that stays with you. He goes home to France and he'll be fine. The people who keep suffering are the ones who stay.

Diplomats from three EU countries were in that convoy. Capitals will be asking questions tonight.

This is Kateryna Kovalenko, reporting for HIT.