Palestinian authority: 482 Israeli attacks on West Bank farmers during October
Agencies3 min read
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The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission announced the recording of 482 attacks by settlers and the Israeli army against Palestinian farmers since the start of the olive harvesting season at the beginning of this current October, including 16 attacks on Sunday.
The governmental commission said in a statement accompanied by a map that it recorded 482 attacks carried out by settlers and Israeli army forces against Palestinian farmers since the start of the olive harvesting season, distributed across 9 governorates in the occupied West Bank.
It explained that settler attacks intersected with Israeli army measures that restricted farmers' access to their lands and olive groves.
It added that the 16 recorded attacks on Sunday ranged from detaining farmers and assaulting them with beatings, to stealing crops and agricultural equipment, bulldozing land, and imposing military restrictions on accessing olive groves.
The commission considered these attacks to be in the context of "targeting the agricultural season and the sources of livelihood for Palestinian families."
It added that what is happening "reveals a systematic shift from targeting farmers during harvesting to targeting the conditions for the continuation of agricultural activity itself," by confiscating crops and equipment, bulldozing lands, closing access roads, and imposing a continuous threat on their owners.
The commission said that detaining farmers inside their lands and transferring them to settlements, coinciding with providing military protection for settlers, reflects "the integration of colonial violence tools and military measures in imposing control over the land and undermining the ability of Palestinians to invest in it."
It warned that the continuation of these practices could turn "seasonal deprivation from harvesting into long-term exclusion from agricultural lands," with the resulting economic and social impacts on Palestinian families.
The commission demanded that the international community intervene to stop the attacks, ensure the protection of farmers, and hold perpetrators accountable.
The olive season is one of the most prominent agricultural seasons in the West Bank and constitutes a main source of income for thousands of Palestinian families, especially in villages located near settlements and outposts.
In recent years, Palestinian farmers' complaints have escalated regarding settler attacks and the prevention of access to lands located near settlements or behind military checkpoints and gates.
Last August, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, described Israelis involved in acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as "terrorists," warning that these practices cause severe damage to Israel's image.
Also, 14 UN special rapporteurs warned last June of the sharp escalation in settler violence, considering it an existential threat to Palestinian communities.
The number of settlers in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is estimated at about 750,000, residing in 194 settlements and about 400 outposts, according to official Palestinian data.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israeli army and settlers have escalated their operations and attacks in the West Bank, resulting in the death of more than 1,220 Palestinians, the injury of about 13,350, and the arrest of more than 26,000, according to Palestinian data.
