EU 'strongly condemns' settler attack on delegation in West Bank

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union said Sunday that it "strongly condemns" an attack the previous day by a group of Israeli settlers on visiting European diplomats.

"The EU strongly condemns the latest attacks by violent settlers in the West Bank, including on European diplomats," the foreign service said in a communique.

The communique also urged "full accountability as well as effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists.

"We urge Israel to fully abide by International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, and to cease the expansion of settlements," the statement concluded.

Saturday saw Israeli settlers attack a convoy of European diplomats in the West Bank and beat up a visiting French mayor, witnesses said, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against a brewing "crisis" in the territory a day after an American photojournalist was injured in a brutal attack.

Violence is surging ahead of bitterly fought October 27 elections in Israel, coinciding with an olive harvest repeatedly disrupted by Israeli settlers as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base.

On Saturday, 78-year-old Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, said masked settlers yelled defamatory comments about France and kicked and hit him with iron bars.

"I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government," Baudoux told AFP after he and visiting EU representatives were attacked.

"The whole world needs to know what's happening," he said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Israel must "urgently halt criminal violence" and arrest those responsible while his Belgian counterpart issued a similar call.