All but one of the suspects arrested over recent settler attacks on an American photojournalist and a visiting French mayor in the West Bank have been released from detention and placed under house arrest, their lawyers said.
Israeli police had announced on Monday the arrests of 10 people implicated in the attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory, where violence by Israeli settlers is on the rise but perpetrators are seldom prosecuted.
Honenu, a legal aid organisation that often represents Israeli soldiers and settlers, said that all but one of the suspects had been released to house arrest.
Lawyer Assaf Gonen said in a statement that their arrests had only been “for show”, and were “intended to satisfy media pressure and foreign interests”.
The suspects have not been identified.
On Friday, photographer Heidi Levine, 65, who was on assignment for The Washington Post, was taken to hospital with broken vertebrae after being beaten by settlers while covering the West Bank’s annual olive harvest.
The incident comes 10 days after settlers beat an AFP photographer covering the West Bank olive harvest, Jaafar Ashtiyeh, leaving him also requiring hospital treatment.
A day later, settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats and beat up Bernard Baudoux, 78, the mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries who was on a goodwill visit.
The attacks drew international condemnation, but mixed messages from the Israeli government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a tight race for a new mandate, has tried to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base and has cast doubt on the circumstances behind the recent settler attacks on Westerners.
His tone has drawn unusually strong criticism from the opposition, which has accused him of tarnishing Israel’s image.
Violence has flared in recent months in the West Bank, with near-daily attacks, thefts or vandalism by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
Settlers have also been seizing olive groves owned by Palestinians, who see the trees as a cultural symbol.
Excluding east Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements considered illegal under international law.