Israeli army seizes vehicle, olive harvest as attacks on West Bank farmers intensify

The Israeli army intensified attacks in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, including seizing harvested olives, demolishing agricultural structures and preventing farmers from reaching their land during the olive harvest season. The Palestinian Al-Baidar rights organization said in a statement that Israeli forces assaulted a Palestinian in the Abu Sharif area between the towns of Deir Dibwan and Burqa, east of Ramallah, before confiscating his vehicle and olive harvest. It said the actions are harming Palestinians and their livelihoods and worsening conditions for farmers during the olive harvest season. In the southern West Bank province of Hebron, the organization said Israeli forces demolished agricultural structures and rooms in the Ghaziywa area near the village of Susiya. It said demolitions damaged Palestinian property and facilities used to support agricultural activity, threatening the ability of farmers to continue working their land. In the northern province of Tulkarm, Al-Baidar said the Israeli army is preventing hundreds of farmers in the town of Deir al-Ghusun from reaching agricultural land located beyond the separation wall to harvest olives, despite their holding permits allowing them access. Blocking access threatened to cost farmers part of the harvest and inflict economic losses, particularly because olive picking is limited to a specific period and constitutes a major source of income for many Palestinian families, it said. Israeli occupiers stole harvested olives in the Tel Ma'in area of Hebron, it added. The incidents come during the olive harvest season amid an increase in attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said on Monday that it documented 136 attacks linked to the olive harvest by Israeli forces and occupiers since the beginning of October. They included beatings, expulsions, intimidation, gunfire, tear gas, arrests, theft of olives and harvesting equipment and damage to trees. The attacks have caused losses to farmers and restricted their access to agricultural land, it added. Israeli army raids and attacks by occupiers against Palestinians and their property have intensified in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of Israel’s genocide against the Gaza Strip in October 2023.