Israeli Settlers Surge Attacks During West Bank Olive Harvest, Killing At Least Four Palestinians

Harvest violence escalates

Israeli settlers have surged attacks on Palestinians during the annual olive harvest in the occupied West Bank, and the violence has killed at least four Palestinians this season, whether by settlers or Israeli soldiers.

Abbas Milhem of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union said, "In the past, harvesters would enjoy a month of singing and fixing tea and coffee in their groves. Now the journey is full of pain and risk," as olive groves across the West Bank became a flashpoint for income and heritage.

Yesh Din said olive trees have been destroyed and olives stolen in over 325 incidents of settler violence this harvest season, which began in late September, and it said over 130 of those incidents involved physical assaults on harvesters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised settlers as "heroic" after a West Bank shooting attack blamed on Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers on Friday, and he vowed to "destroy the terror infrastructure and establish more and more settlements."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, "The clear goal is to drive communities off their land," as international criticism grew while Netanyahu faced a razor-thin race in next Tuesday’s legislative elections.

Reporting for this sectionmyMotherLode

Beatings, theft, and detentions

Heidi Levine, a photographer for The Washington Post, was recovering after settlers last Friday beat her so badly that several vertebrae were broken and a finger was nearly detached, and the assault came while she was covering the Palestinian olive harvest. Rabbi Toba Spitzer described the fear she and her fellow volunteers experienced when they first arrived in Jalud, a Palestinian village near Nablus, and she said, "We had only arrived in Israel on Friday, and before Shabbat our families back home started sending worried messages asking whether we were all right." Riyad Haj Mohammed Abu Amr, head of the village council, said, "Because of the fear, we only harvest the olives inside the village, between the houses," and he added that settlers threw stones at the village’s elementary school the day before.

Rabbis for Human Rights said Jewish US congressional candidate Brad Lander was detained on Wednesday in Nahalin, a village south of Bethlehem, while accompanying Palestinians harvesting olives, and Lander posted that they "were simply harvesting olives in a grove" when they were detained. Israel Police said Lander was immediately released upon learning he was a congressional candidate, and police said 32 of the detained activists had been questioned and released subject to exclusion orders preventing their return to the area.

Reporting for this sectionmyMotherLode

What comes next

Yesh Din reported 125 physical attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters over the 24 days since the season began and 168 incidents of crop theft, with the IDF present in at least a quarter of cases. Ziv Stahl, executive director of Israeli rights group Yesh Din, said, "This creates a situation where Palestinians, in many of the cases, many of the lands, especially in proximity to settlements and outposts, cannot enter the land and harvest the trees," while he said settlers can come and go freely. The IDF said it takes acts of violence, criminal activity, and attempts to undermine security very seriously, and it did not refer to settlers or comment on reports of olive theft in the presence of the IDF.

Yesh Din attack count2 of 4 outlets reported it · not in Modern Diplomacy and 1 more▾

In Lubban al-Gharbi, Ahmed Salem said he witnessed extremist Israeli settlers hitting his olive trees with sticks and taking off the olives, and he asked, "How would you feel if something that belonged to you was being violated, and you could do nothing about it?" The Jerusalem Post said the attacks have accelerated ahead of an election next week that opinion polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Right-wing coalition could lose, as Palestinians decry violent Israeli settlers for stealing olives in the West Bank.

Salem describes theft3 of 4 outlets reported it · not in myMotherLode▾

Reporting for this sectionThe Jerusalem Post