Video has emerged of the moment a settler attacks and beats an Israeli peace activist near the Palestinian village of Awarta in the occupied West Bank. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who heads the Rabbis for Human Rights organisation, was part of a group of Israeli and international activists attending an olive harvest at a Palestinian farm on Friday when he was attacked.
The Israeli news outlet ‘+972 Magazine’ reported that Ascherman and other activists noticed Israeli settlers stealing olives and setting fire to plants on the hillside. When Ascherman went to put out the fire he was set upon by a masked man swinging a knife at him. The video shows the masked man shouting at Ascherman and then throwing punches at him. The man, who later runs off up hill, lunges at Ascherman with the knife but does not stab him.
Al Jazeera contacted the Israeli military, which occupies the West Bank, and the Israeli police force, which deals with incidents between Israelis in the territory. Both said they were unaware of the attack. On its Twitter account, Rabbis for Human Rights said the attack was unprovoked and had happened on Palestinian-administered land and not in Itamar, a nearby illegal Israeli settlement.
