Settlers Attack Palestinian Harvesters Across West Bank

About 80 masked Israeli settlers descended on a terraced olive grove in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, as Palestinians gathered to harvest their trees, Reuters witnesses said. Attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday and Saturday injured people, damaged property and trees, and restricted farmers’ access to their land.

Some settlers in Abu Falah carried gas canisters; others fired stones from slingshots. Villagers retreated downhill, while some threw stones back. “The settlers want to attack us and force us from our homes,” said Moutaz Abdelhadi, a 42-year-old farmer who witnessed the assault.

Harvesters forced from their land

Israeli military jeeps later drove through the area as villagers moved out of their path. Soldiers fired tear gas toward Palestinians, and witnesses heard live gunfire. A Reuters photographer saw at least one armed settler fire a gun. The Israeli military said soldiers and border police officers fired warning shots, and acknowledged that troops fired toward a person they believed posed a threat. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was investigating the incident.

Heidi Levine, an American photojournalist working for The Washington Post, was among those injured in Abu Falah. Palestinian medics said at least two people went to hospitals in the Ramallah area. From a hospital bed, Levine said: “I was attacked, pushed to the ground. Luckily I had my flak jacket and helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn't even be here, because they just kept kicking me and kicking me.” The Washington Post reported lacerations across her body, a broken rib and a hand injury that required surgery. Beilinson Hospital said she was in moderate condition.

The Washington Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, called for a thorough investigation, saying Levine had visible markings identifying her as a journalist. The U.S. State Department said it was deeply concerned about harm to an American citizen overseas, offered consular assistance and condemned criminal violence by any party in the West Bank.

Reports described attacks in at least eight villages in the northern West Bank, where many of the territory’s olive groves are concentrated. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its medics treated 14 injured people; local officials reported at least four injuries. Palestinian officials said at least four Palestinians had been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest season began earlier in October, and reported damage to thousands of olive trees. Yesh Din reported at least 170 attacks against Palestinians since September 27. A separate Al Jazeera report said observers had documented 300 attacks since the beginning of October.

Attacks across the harvest

In Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, settlers attacked farmers and burned three cars, according to local accounts. “They snuck up like thieves, they caught someone by himself and began to beat him,” said witness Salah Abu Niswa. In Ma'in village, in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said four women and a child were among six people injured in a settler attack. Haaretz reported six people wounded in another attack near Hebron, where settlers stole sheep.

In Kafr Malek, Mayor Najeh Rustum told Al Jazeera that settlers raided a farm at dawn and killed about 20 sheep. He said Israeli forces had raided the village the previous night, firing tear gas canisters that ignited a fire in a house and caused material damage.

Israeli forces opened fire on olive farmers in Deir Ammar, west of Ramallah, and forced them to leave their land, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Settlers also shot and injured two Palestinians there. In the Beit Furik plain, east of Nablus, settlers destroyed olive trees while Israeli forces arrested landowners and olive pickers, Al Jazeera reporter Nour Odeh said. In Deir Jarir, settlers under army protection fired live ammunition at farmers and forced them off their land. In Burqa, Israeli forces and settlers blocked farmers from harvesting.

Odeh described the incidents as part of a campaign. Settlers were advertising attacks on social media, she said, and danger came from soldiers and settlers alike. She said military forces routinely intervened to protect settlers and attacked Palestinians defending their land.

A ruling on Palestinian olives

Reports linked the violence to a Friday religious ruling by Rabbi Dov Lior, which permitted settlers to take olives from Palestinian orchards in the occupied West Bank. The ruling argued that landowners prevented from reaching their crops because of Israeli restrictions had already received compensation in years when they could access the fruit. It urged settlers to pick olives to claim ownership, calling the act an “additional virtue” and saying they should “conquer the land” and “demonstrate our ownership.”

Rabbis from the religious council of the Gush Etzion settlements called illegal harvesting theft, blasphemy and a moral defect. Tzohar, an organisation of 800 orthodox rabbis, said only the state had authority to confiscate property and that the olives belonged to their Arab owners while the state recognised that ownership.

The United Nations and most countries consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law; Israel disputes that position and regards the territory as disputed rather than occupied. About 500,000 Israeli settlers live alongside at least 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Olive harvesting is an annual tradition and a vital source of income for many Palestinian farming communities. Attacks on farmers, damage to trees and restrictions on access threaten both this harvest and future income.