BRUSSELS: The European Union on Sunday strongly condemned the attacks by Israeli settlers on visiting European diplomats in the occupied West Bank as the United States asked Israel to crack down on a surge of settler violence that also injured an American journalist.

`The EU strongly condemns the latest attacks by violent settlers in the West Bank, including on Europeandiplomats,` the EU`s foreign service said in a communique on Sunday.

The statement urged `full accountability as well as effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists`.

The diplomatic condemnation followed comments by US Secretary of StateMarco Rubio, who warned against a brewing `crisis` in the territory and said the US wants Israel to do more to deter attacks committed by settlers.

`We`re very disturbed by those images and what we`re seeing,` Rubio told reporters before boarding a flight to Uzbekistan.

`We`ve asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff. Agencies