Olive Harvest Becomes Flashpoint as Settler Attacks Surge

About 80 settlers dressed in black descended on a terraced olive grove in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, as villagers gathered to pick their crop, Reuters witnesses said. Some carried gas canisters; others hurled stones with slingshots. The villagers retreated downhill. Palestinian families have gathered for this annual harvest for generations, and it provides vital income to many farming communities. This year, they’re picking under assault.

“The settlers want to attack us and force us from our homes,” said Moutaz Abdelhadi, 42, a farmer who watched the attack. Some villagers threw stones back as they withdrew. At least two Israeli military jeeps later drove through the area, and villagers moved out of their way. Soldiers fired tear gas toward Palestinians. People heard live gunfire, and a Reuters photographer saw at least one armed settler fire a gun.

The Toll in the Groves

Palestinian officials say at least four Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest season began earlier in October, while thousands of olive trees have suffered damage. Yesh Din, an Israeli organization that monitors settler violence, reported at least 170 attacks against Palestinians since September 27, around the harvest’s start. A separate Al Jazeera report counted 300 documented attacks since the beginning of October and said at least 19 people were injured in 34 attacks by the Israeli military and settlers on Friday. Five vehicles were torched.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its medics treated 14 injured people in attacks across at least eight villages in the northern West Bank, where many of the territory’s olive groves are concentrated. In Ma’in village in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, six people, including four women and a child, were injured on Saturday, the society said. 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 raided the village the previous night, firing tear gas canisters that ignited a fire in a house.

In Deir Ammar, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces opened fire on farmers picking olives and forced them off their land, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. In Deir Jarir, settlers under army protection fired live ammunition at farmers, drove them from the land and stopped them from finishing the harvest, according to the same reporting. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh called the pattern a campaign. Settlers, she said, openly advertise attack campaigns on social media. The danger comes from soldiers and settlers alike, with military forces routinely stepping in to protect settlers.

A Journalist and Diplomats Among the Victims

Heidi Levine, an American photojournalist working for The Washington Post, was injured in Abu Falah. Video showed her on a dirt path, hands covering her face, with at least three settlers standing around her. “I was attacked, pushed to the ground,” she said from a hospital bed. “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 Post later reported lacerations across her body, a broken rib, and surgery on a hand after a finger was torn open, exposing bone. Matt Murray, the newspaper’s executive editor, said she wore visible markings identifying her as a journalist and demanded accountability.

The U.S. State Department said it was deeply concerned about harm to an American citizen and condemned criminal violence by any party in the West Bank.

Near Taybeh, about seven masked settlers allegedly attacked harvesters while French, Belgian and Polish diplomats were present, an Army Radio report said. Someone smashed a window of a Belgian consulate vehicle. A woman who witnessed the incident wrote that settlers surrounded her vehicle and demanded identity cards. “We updated the army in real time, but they neither arrived nor responded,” she wrote. The IDF said no soldiers were present at the time and that the diplomats’ visit hadn’t been coordinated with the military. Israel Police opened an investigation and said it condemns violence of any kind.

Belgian Foreign Affairs minister Maxime Prevot was blunt. “As the occupying power, Israeli authorities must protect Palestinians, ensure the safety of diplomats and journalists, and bring those responsible to justice,” he said. “Impunity for violent settlers must end.” He added that the attacks “can’t be separated from Israel’s illegal settlement policy.”

A Rabbi’s Ruling, and Israeli Dissent

Reports tied the surge to a ruling issued Friday by Rabbi Dov Lior, a prominent Israeli rabbi. It permits settlers to take olives from Palestinian orchards, arguing that landowners who couldn’t reach their trees because of Israeli restrictions had received compensation in earlier years, and that picking the fruit would help Jews claim ownership of the land. Al Jazeera described Lior as a leading authority among the Hilltop Youth and a spiritual guide to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party.

Not every religious voice agreed. Rabbis from the Gush Etzion settlements’ religious council called illegal harvesting of Palestinian crops theft, blasphemy and a moral defect. Tzohar, an organization of 800 orthodox rabbis, said that as long as the state recognizes Arab ownership of the olives, they belong to their owners. Knesset member Gilad Kariv said anyone standing on the sidelines “joins the camp of Rabbi Dov Lior and his criminals.”

The Israeli military said attacks and violence against innocent civilians are “grave and unacceptable.” Netanyahu’s office said the Abu Falah incident was under investigation. Odeh doubted authorities would act: “No one is stopping these settlers, whose names, locations and homes are known,” she said, adding that politicians let the violence continue because it is politically expedient ahead of elections on October 27. The IDF expects to reinforce its West Bank division with additional combat troops.

Why This Matters: About 500,000 Israeli settlers live alongside at least 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, and the United Nations and most countries consider the settlements illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes. When farmers can’t reach their groves, the loss isn’t just one season’s income. It threatens future harvests and entire communities’ livelihoods. Palestinian residents and rights groups keep pointing to the gap between official condemnation and protection on the ground: they accuse Israeli authorities of failing to prevent assaults or hold perpetrators accountable. Britain is considering sanctions, and Belgium is pressing for them. Israel now faces a question: will its stated opposition to settler violence lead to enforcement before the next harvest?