Daijiworld Media Network - Jalud
Jalud, Aug 30: Masked Israeli settlers attacked and injured a Palestinian woman and three members of an NBC News team while they were reporting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Jalud near Nablus on Saturday.
The NBC News team was interviewing 51-year-old Palestinian resident Aida Ahmed Abdullah and her family after they were reportedly forced out of their home by Israeli settlers. The journalists and Abdullah were walking down a hill towards the house when a grey car with Israeli licence plates approached them in reverse.
Video of the incident showed a masked man wearing a blue tracksuit leaning out of the rear passenger window of the vehicle while holding a stick. When the car stopped, at least four masked men dressed in dark clothing got out and allegedly attacked Abdullah and the journalists with sticks and stones.
“They jumped out, beat us, then jumped back in the car,” NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley said. He was struck twice on his arm and later received treatment at a nearby clinic.
Abdullah was knocked to the ground during the attack and was taken for medical treatment by the Red Crescent. An Israeli military and Israel Border Police statement said her injuries were not life-threatening. Her husband, Mahmoud Toubasi, said her condition had improved but she remained in hospital on Saturday night.
Two other NBC News crew members, cameraman Khaldoon Eid and producer Lawahez Jabari, were also injured and received medical treatment.
Jabari said the attackers damaged camera equipment and one of the crew's vehicles after the car suddenly drove up the hill.
“Suddenly a car came to us. The settlers had sticks. I saw a gun, but they didn’t use the gun,” she said after receiving treatment.
Eid, who lives in the West Bank, said the crew had not expected an attack because they were in the middle of a Palestinian village surrounded by Palestinian homes.
“We didn’t expect that — that they would come to attack,” he said.
The incident came amid a wider escalation in Israeli settler violence across the West Bank, including in the nearby village of Qusra, where Palestinian homes have been surrounded by settlers for weeks.
On Saturday, Israeli security forces said they had received reports of violent clashes in the Qusra and Jalud areas, including stone-throwing at Palestinians and other civilians.
According to the security forces, dozens of Israeli rioters barricaded themselves inside a Palestinian home in Qusra while Palestinian residents were still inside. Security personnel said they intervened to remove the rioters and separate the groups to protect the residents.
Israeli forces also said they confiscated vehicles belonging to Israeli rioters suspected of having been used to reach the area.
“IDF soldiers and Israel Border Police forces continue to operate in the areas of Qusra and Jalud to prevent further disturbances and restore order in the area,” the security statement said.
Reuters separately reported that masked Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home in Qusra on Saturday, throwing stones while seven Palestinians were trapped inside. Witnesses alleged that Israeli soldiers fired tear gas into the house and detained residents, while the settlers were allowed to leave. The Israeli military said its forces had intervened to remove “rioters” and protect the residents.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence in both Qusra and Jalud, describing the perpetrators as a “handful of rioters” whose actions, he said, harmed law-abiding settlers, obstructed Israeli military operations and damaged Israel’s standing internationally.
Netanyahu said he had instructed security forces to apprehend those responsible and bring them to justice, stressing that Israel would not tolerate vigilantism.
His spokesman Doron Spielman also condemned the violence, saying such actions violate the law, endanger both Israelis and Palestinians and interfere with the Israel Defense Forces' security operations.
The violence has drawn increasing international attention as attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have intensified in the occupied West Bank. The United Nations and media organisations have also reported a rise in attacks against Palestinian, Israeli and foreign journalists working in the territory.
According to the latest data available from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli forces or settlers killed 76 Palestinians in the West Bank between January 1 and July 24. Three Israelis were killed during the same period.
The West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, is home to around 3 million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers. Most countries and international organisations consider Israeli settlements in the territory illegal, a position rejected by Israel.
The recent escalation has increased pressure on Israeli authorities and the military to prevent attacks by armed settler groups and hold those responsible accountable.
The attack on the NBC News team and Abdullah came as tensions remained high in the region, with Israeli forces continuing operations in the West Bank and settler violence adding to an already volatile security situation.