US diplomats visited the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, October 18, following a series of violent attacks by Israeli settlers targeting European diplomats, Palestinian civilians and an American journalist.
The delegation included Riley Barnes, US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, and Brian Burch, US ambassador to the Holy See. Officials visited the Latin Convent church and planned meetings with Taybeh’s Christian community amid growing concerns over Israeli settler violence.
On Saturday, masked Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Belgian, French and Polish diplomats, a French mayor and Palestinian civilians near Taybeh. A day earlier, Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was hospitalized after being assaulted while documenting a Palestinian olive harvest elsewhere in the West Bank.
The diplomatic visit coincided with US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s October 27 parliamentary election.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee attended a West Bank settler conference on Sunday. Huckabee previously condemned the assault on Levine, an American cit
