West Bankupdated 45m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 3 September 2019Former Israeli Generals Help Palestinian Farmers Harvest Olives Near Qusra Amid Settler Attacks
3 Other1 Israeli1 West Asian1 Western AlternativePhoto: יעקב, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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About 30 former senior Israeli officers, including six generals, helped Palestinian olive harvest near Qusra. They acted in solidarity amid surge of militant settler violence against Palestinians.
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Ex-generals join olive harvest
Around 30 former senior Israeli military officials, including six generals, joined Palestinian farmers harvesting olives near Qusra in the occupied West Bank on November 3, as Israeli settler violence against Palestinians harvesting olives intensified. Former Major General Eyal Ben-Reuven said he began organizing the initiative several months earlier after reports of attacks against Palestinians increased, and the group helped farmers collect olives while offering a visible presence to support access to agricultural land.
Former Colonel Doron Meinert said Israel must address the occupation together with Palestinians, and he framed the violence as a central problem facing Israeli society. Nimr Nazzal, the Palestinian landowner near Qusra, said settler attacks had made it impossible for him to reach his olive trees without support from the Israeli volunteers.
Voices trade blame
Ben-Reuven compared attacks on Palestinian women and children to historical pogroms suffered by Jewish communities, and he said the violence reminded him of stories from his parents from the time when the Jewish people suffered. Jonatan Yoni said he was motivated by the plight of Palestinian farmers and by opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank, and he warned that settler violence was creating problems for Israel in the West and the US.
Nimr Nazzal accused the Israeli military of protecting settlers during violent incidents, and he said, "The army is protecting the settlers,". The Israeli military denied those accusations and said it condemns violence and operates to maintain security in the West Bank.
Numbers and what’s at risk
Yesh Din recorded 180 physical attacks against Palestinian olive harvesters during the first 35 days of the harvest season, and the group said Israeli military personnel were present in more than 23% of the settler-violence incidents it documented. The Middle East Online said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented 199 olive-harvest-related settler attacks between 1 September and 12 October 2026, including 166 attacks recorded between 29 September and 12 October.
The Middle East Online said the olive harvest is a vital source of income for tens of thousands of Palestinian families, while access to agricultural land has become increasingly difficult because of movement restrictions, intimidation and attacks on farmers and their property. The Jerusalem Post said the IDF has said it condemns violence and it operates to maintain security in the West Bank, even as it described Meinert’s claim that the IDF aided the settlers and that some soldiers share extremist settlers’ belief that only Jews have the right to the area.
