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Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked a convoy of European diplomats and beat up a visiting French mayor, in a new escalation of violence during the Palestinian olive harvest, witnesses and diplomats told AFP.<\/strong><\/p>\n The 78-year-old mayor said masked settlers yelled defamatory comments about France, kicked him and hit him with iron bars as he joined Palestinian olive farmers in the West Bank alongside the top French and Belgian representatives in Jerusalem and Polish diplomats.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,\u201d Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, told AFP after he was attacked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole world needs to know what\u2019s happening,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me, I\u2019ll go back to my country and everything will be fine. Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here.\u201d<\/p>\n Baudoux, who was wearing a sash with the French tricolour, was seen collapsed on the side of the car after the attack but he did not need hospital care.<\/p>\n The attack came just one day after settlers beat an American photographer for The Washington Post, who was in moderate condition with broken vertebrae on Saturday.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s foreign ministry condemned the attack on the diplomats and Israeli police promised to open an investigation.<\/p>\n But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, days away from an election in which he is seeking to shore up support from the far-right, instead alleged a \u201csmear\u201d campaign against settlers.<\/p>\n Netanyahu said the diplomats should have coordinated their movements with the Israeli military and pointed out that Baudoux is a communist known for supporting the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge caution before drawing conclusions\u201d about the attacks, Netanyahu\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n His main rival in October 27 elections, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, strongly criticised Netanyahu over the violence, saying it was \u201cburning away the little legitimacy the State of Israel still possesses\u201d.<\/p>\n The attacks are \u201cJewish terrorism, under the auspices of the Israeli government\u201d, Eisenkot said.<\/p>\n Belgium called for an end to \u201cimpunity for violent settlers\u201d after the latest attack.<\/p>\n Baudoux, the mayor, said he had come to the town of Taybeh, a Christian stronghold, along with his local pastor from France to sign a goodwill agreement.<\/p>\n He was attacked just as he joined the harvest as a symbolic gesture with the Palestinians, for whom olives are an important cultural symbol.<\/p>\n Extremist Israelis have issued calls to stop the Palestinians\u2019 harvest after months of growing attacks in which settlers have stolen land and property. There has also been violence against Israelis, with a Palestinian shooting dead a settler last month.<\/p>\n Bashar Fawadleh, a priest in Taybeh, said settlers had already attacked the harvest and snatched olives before beating the mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cOne person was hit in the head and needed stitches. They also beat up an older lady in her 70s after insulting her with very bad words,\u201d the pastor told AFP.<\/p>\n The West Bank violence has shocked much of the world, with Britain leading economic sanctions that in turn caused Netanyahu to voice outrage.<\/p>\n Netanyahu had also sought to throw doubt on the circumstances behind the beating Friday of the photographer, Heidi Levine, suggesting that Palestinians and \u201cfar-left\u201d activists caused trouble.<\/p>\n But President Isaac Herzog, who holds a mostly symbolic role, took the initiative Saturday to call Levine in the hospital, calling the attack \u201coutrageous and shocking\u201d and saying it weighed on his conscience.<\/p>\n Israel Gantz, head of an umbrella settler group, blamed the recent incidents on \u201cgroups of provocateurs and terrorists\u201d and implicitly acknowledged some Israelis\u2019 responsibility, saying that they caused harm to the settlers\u2019 cause.<\/p>\n Settlers earlier this month also beat up AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh as he covered the olive harvest tensions, fracturing several of his ribs.<\/p>\n Netanyahu\u2019s government has ramped up approval of West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law.<\/p>\n Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967, alongside three million Palestinians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0Attacks on cultural symbol<\/h2>\n