Israeli Settlers Attack US Diplomats

By Dustin M Braden - 02 Jan '15 15:28PM

Israeli settlers have attacked a group of US diplomats who were touring Israeli settlements in the West Bank that are illegal according to international law.

BuzzFeed reports that the diplomats were a on a fact finding mission for the U.S. Embassy in regards to allegations that the Israeli settlers were destroying the olive trees of Palestinian residents and farmers.

The US diplomats came under attack outside the illegal settlement of Adi Ad when they were surrounded by an angry mob of radical Jewish Israeli settlers. They began to throw rocks at the US personnel, who became so fearful for their lives and safety that the guards with the group had to draw their weapons, according to Ynet News.

Palestinians have long claimed that Israeli settlers burn down or uproot their trees, and sometimes even salt the earth in an effort to rob the Palestinians of their livelihoods and force them off the land. BuzzFeed notes that a United Nations report determined that Israeli settlers had destroyed more than 11,000 olive trees in recent years.

Ynet News says that US diplomatic staff were called to the illegal settlement because the trees under investigation belonged to a Palestinian with American citizenship.

The incident is sure to further strain relations between Israel and the United States which is Israel's most powerful benefactor.

For example, the Patriot missile defense system which has made rockets fired by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups wildly ineffective, was developed by the United States, which continues to finance the majority of its operations.

The US-Israeli relationship was already strained by Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, and insulting, incendiary comments about the United States by high-ranking members of the Israeli government.

If attacks on US personnel by Israelis continue, and the Israeli government continues to publicly rebuke the US administration, it is possible cooperation in areas such as the Patriot missile system will start to weaken.