Settler Attacks Escalate Against Palestinian Olive Harvesters

Settlers intensified attacks against Palestinians, their property, and agricultural lands across the occupied West Bank on Monday, coinciding with the olive harvest season. The assaults included beatings, attacks on homes, theft of crops and harvesting equipment, as well as cutting electricity to homes and damaging trees and vehicles. Two Palestinians were injured in an attack by settlers on the Al-Kaabneh Bedouin community near the village of Al-Taybeh, east of Ramallah. Settlers also attacked an ambulance from Salwad municipality that was heading to the area to assist the injured.

In the Nablus Governorate, settlers attacked olive harvesters in the villages of Bazaria, Beita, Qusra, Qabalan, Burqa, and Madama. They beat farmers, stole olives and harvesting equipment, and attacked a home in the Al-Harayeq area of Beita, cutting down olive trees nearby, smashing a vehicle, and throwing garbage. Israeli forces arrested the homeowner. In Al-Arma, electricity was cut to the home of Montaser Hamayel by severing the power pole supplying it.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported 18 incidents of attacks and violations against farmers, lands, crops, and those supporting the olive season between 6 AM and 6 PM across six governorates. These included five incidents in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, four in Nablus, three each in Hebron and Salfit, two in Jenin, and one in Bethlehem. The commission stated that attacks involved beatings, arrests, expelling farmers from their lands, stealing crops and equipment, and burning property and destroying trees.

In Kissan village, southeast of Bethlehem, settlers cut down 120 olive trees on a ten-dunam plot of land and burned a caravan and a shed while pursuing farmers in Wadi Al-Rakheem, east of Dura. In Ramallah and Al-Bireh, settlers attacked farmers in Turmus Ayya, beating a citizen and his mother and burning their vehicle. A farmer was injured in Burham, olives were stolen in Umm Safa, livestock were introduced into cultivated land in Sinjil, and farmers were prevented from accessing their lands in Rantis.

In Nablus, olives and harvesting equipment were stolen in Madama and Aqrab. Israeli forces expelled farmers from their lands in Qaryut and arrested an activist from Salem village before releasing him and transferring him to the hospital. The commission emphasized that the simultaneous theft of crops, tree cutting, property burning, and farmer harassment threatens Palestinians' ability to work their lands and benefit from the olive season, calling for an end to the attacks, safe access for farmers, and accountability for perpetrators.

More broadly, the commission reported that Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,051 attacks against Palestinians, their lands, and property in the West Bank and Jerusalem in September. Of these, 647 were by settlers, resulting in the death of three Palestinians, direct harm to 88, and the destruction or uprooting of 14,600 trees, including 9,334 olive trees. Since the beginning of 2026 until the end of September, settler attacks totaled 5,561.