Israeli occupiers attack Palestinian olive pickers in West Bank as army arrests farmer

Israeli occupiers attacked Palestinian olive pickers east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank on Saturday, while the Israeli army arrested a farmer as he plowed his land south of Hebron. Citing local sources, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the occupiers attacked and assaulted olive pickers in the Khallat Abu Huwan area of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus. The occupiers forced the farmers to leave their land after stealing equipment and mats they were using to harvest olives, the sources added.

In the nearby village of Salem, east of Nablus, olive trees caught fire after Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters at farmers picking olives to prevent them from continuing their work, an Anadolu correspondent reported. Nablus municipal firefighting crews intervened to extinguish the blaze, which burned several olive trees, according to the correspondent. Separately, local sources told Anadolu that two Palestinian men were injured after being beaten by Israeli occupiers while picking olives north of Ramallah.

The attack took place in the Wadi al-Zaytoun area near the Israeli military checkpoint of Ein Siniya, the sources said, adding that the occupiers also seized the keys to a vehicle. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said in a statement that its teams in Ramallah treated the two men and transferred them to a hospital. In a separate incident in the southern West Bank, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian farmer Bader Mohammed al-Adra as he plowed his farmland in the Deirat area, east of the town of Yatta, south of Hebron.

The Al-Baidar human rights organization said in a statement that Israeli forces arrested al-Adra while he was working on his land. It said Palestinian farmers in areas east of Yatta face harassment and Israeli restrictions that hinder their access to and use of their land. The organization said targeting farmers while they carry out agricultural work threatens their livelihoods and makes it harder for them to hold on to their land. It added that arresting farmers while they plow their fields violates their right to work and use their property.

The organization called for al-Adra’s release and an end to measures targeting farmers working on their land, urging local and international rights organizations to monitor conditions in the Deirat area and document violations against residents. Attacks by the Israeli army and Israeli occupiers against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank have intensified since the start of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

The attacks have included killings, arrests, demolitions of homes and other structures, arson and the destruction of agricultural land, alongside settlement expansion and the displacement of residents. Palestinians warn that such practices are paving the way for Israel’s formal annexation of the West Bank, undermining prospects for an independent Palestinian state in accordance with relevant UN resolutions.