Israeli settlers attack Deutsche Welle team in West Bank
Members of a Deutsche Welle television crew were attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the German agency said in a statement. The German government has demanded guarantees for the safety of the media personnel.
The incident occurred on Friday, when a correspondent from DW's Jerusalem office and a cameraman were stoned and chased by Israeli settlers near the village of Sinjil, north of Ramallah. The headquarters in Bonn said its colleagues escaped unharmed, while their car was badly damaged.
Deutsche Welle Director General Peter Limburg condemned the attack on the journalist and cameraman, who, he said, were covering a planned protest rally against settler violence.
"We demand very clearly that the Israeli government guarantee the safety of all journalists in the West Bank. Freedom of the press – and therefore the safety of journalists – is an essential pillar of any democracy," said the DW head.
Along the same lines, the German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, in a post on "X", said that reports of violent attacks by settlers on foreign journalists were extremely disturbing.
"Press freedom and the safety of journalists must be guaranteed. Their work is essential, given the increasing violence of extremist settlers," Mr. Seibert wrote.
The German Journalists' Association, which also condemned the attack, is seeking clarification on the incident. President Mika Boister stressed that the Israeli government has a duty to investigate the incident and handle it judicially: "Radical settlers cannot persecute media workers with impunity. This must not go unpunished," he said.
Sinjil is located in the Palestinian-administered part of the West Bank. According to multiple international media outlets, a gathering of residents was held in the area on Friday to protest violence and land grabbing by Israeli settlers.
Recently, Israeli authorities erected a fence in the area, cutting off parts of the village from the main north-south axis in the West Bank, Route 60, as a result of which some people can no longer reach their villages and many of the crops of local farmers were destroyed.
In addition to Deutsche Welle, correspondents from the New York Times, Washington Post and Agence France-Presse were also at the scene on Friday, who, as DW reported, were also forced to leave due to the settler attack.
(BalkanWeb)
