Today, Saturday, various areas in the occupied West Bank witnessed a series of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinian farmers. The attacks aimed to destroy olive trees, attack farmers, and prevent them from harvesting the crop.
The attacks were concentrated in the areas east of Ramallah, south of Nablus, and north of Salfit, as reported in local reports.
Settlers from the Yesh Kodesh settlement attacked farmers while they were picking olives in the eastern region, in the villages of Qasra, Jalud, and Douma, south of Nablus. They threatened them with weapons, forcing them to leave the place, according to Qasra Mayor Hani Odeh.
Odeh said that the occupation army stormed the area early on Saturday morning, and ordered farmers to evacuate the land under the pretext of “security reasons.”
The head of the Duma Village Council, Suleiman Dawabsha, confirmed that the occupation forces pursued the farmers on the western side of the village, and prevented them from approaching the “Alon” settlement street. He explained that the continuation of these measures threatens the entire agricultural season for this year.
In the village of Yasuf, north of Salfit, settlers from the “Taffouh” settlement cut down 10 fruit-bearing olive trees. The head of the village council, Wael Abu Madi, explained that these trees belong to the village people, and they are more than 25 years old.
Abu Madi pointed out that these attacks are part of a series of attacks that the village has witnessed since the beginning of the month, which included vandalizing citizens’ property and terrorizing them continuously.
In the villages of Al-Mughayir and Turmus Ayya, east of Ramallah, a Palestinian family was attacked by a group of armed settlers while they were picking olives.
Continuous attacks
The head of the village council, Amin Abu Alia, said that the attacks were carried out under the protection of the occupation army, adding that this attack is not the first of its kind, as last year farmers were prevented from reaching those lands to harvest olives.
Reports show that attacks on Palestinian farmers and their fields increase significantly during the olive harvest season, which usually extends between the months of October and November of each year. These attacks range from stealing olives, uprooting trees, and threatening farmers with weapons.
According to Palestinian statistics, about 278,000 olive trees have been destroyed since 2012, most of them due to Israeli attacks and settlers.
The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture expects that farmers will not be able to access 80,000 dunums of land planted with olives this year as a result of attacks by the occupation army and settlers, which will lead to the loss of about 15% of the season’s crop.
The 2023 season was particularly difficult for Palestinian farmers, as it coincided with the escalation of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the exacerbation of attacks in the West Bank.
A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that restrictions on movement and violence from settlers and the occupation army caused great difficulties for Palestinian farmers in this year’s olive season, threatening to exacerbate economic and agricultural losses in the Palestinian areas.
These attacks come in light of the ongoing Israeli war of genocide on the Gaza Strip, which has led to the death and injury of more than 140,000 Palestinians so far. Israeli military operations also expanded in the West Bank, resulting in the martyrdom of 749 Palestinians, the injury of about 6,250 people, and the arrest of more than 11,100 people since the start of the aggression on October 7, 2023.