Settlers Attack Olive Harvesters, Burn Vehicles in Ramallah Area

Settlers attacked Palestinian olive harvesters and farmers in the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on Friday, burning three vehicles. The settlers also assaulted farmers and attacked the outskirts of the town. Similar attacks by settlers on olive harvesters were reported in the villages of Abu Falah and Burqa, near Ramallah.

Separately, on Thursday evening, settlers stole a tractor and an olive harvest from the Al-Masoudiya area, which belongs to the lands of Burqa, northwest of Nablus. Diyab Hajji, an official with the committee for the defense of Al-Masoudiya lands, stated that the stolen tractor and harvest belonged to Hussam Seif.

The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission announced on Monday that it had documented 136 attacks related to the olive harvest season since the beginning of October, carried out by the Israeli military and settlers. These attacks included beatings, expulsions, intimidation, gunfire, tear gas, arrests, theft of crops and harvesting equipment, and damage to trees, hindering farmers' access to their lands.

Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, attacks by the Israeli military and settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank and Jerusalem have escalated. A September report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented over 1,600 settler attacks in the West Bank between January 1 and September 14, resulting in injuries or property damage, affecting 275 Palestinian communities. OCHA noted that settler violence and access restrictions have cumulative consequences, including isolation and reduced access to homes, agricultural lands, essential services, and livelihoods.