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Settlers' Attack on Diplomats in West Bank Disturbs US


FILE - As a Palestinian man looks on, Jewish settlers carry rifles as they walk around olive trees during harvest time near the Jewish settlement of Elone Moreh in the West Bank village of Azmut, Oct. 15, 2010.
FILE - As a Palestinian man looks on, Jewish settlers carry rifles as they walk around olive trees during harvest time near the Jewish settlement of Elone Moreh in the West Bank village of Azmut, Oct. 15, 2010.

The U.S. State Department says it is "deeply concerned" about an attack in the West Bank in which Jewish settlers threw rocks at a U.S. diplomatic convoy investigating claims of damage to Palestinian agricultural property.

A spokesman for the State Department, Jeff Rathke, said Israeli authorities were investigating and had acknowledged the seriousness of the Friday incident. He said the U.S. takes the safety and security of U.S. personnel “very seriously.”

A spokesman at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, Peter Gauls, told the AP that U.S. security personnel did not draw their weapons during the incident.

The U.S. has offered to share video taken during the attack.

The attack occurred near a Jewish settlement, Adei Ad. U.S. officials went there to inspect olive trees that Palestinians think were uprooted by Jewish settlers.

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