West Bank: Armed settlers attack Palestinians on the first day of the olive harvest

When the olive harvest began in Palestine, Hasem Salama took his family to their land in the village of al-Lubban al-Gharbi, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Before they could begin picking olives, more than 50 masked and armed Israeli settlers arrived on Saturday morning.

They attacked and beat her without justification, Salama said, injuring eleven people, including women and a child.

“My seven-year-old nephew suffered bruises after they beat him without hesitation,” Salama told Middle East Eye.

“Two of the women sustained injuries to their hands in the barbaric attack,” he added.

As they tried to defend themselves against the attackers, the settlers increased their attack and swung iron pipes at the Palestinian residents.

Many people suffered broken bones, including Salama, whose legs were so injured that he could no longer stand.

Israeli forces eventually arrived at the scene. However, eyewitnesses reported that they sided with the settlers and helped drive residents out of the area without arresting any of the attackers.

“This is not the first time we have been attacked while picking olives, but it is the most brutal,” said Jasser Samhan, a landowner in the village.

“The army supported them and fired sound bombs at us to force us to leave our land and our trees.”

Land confiscation

Samhan said that in August 2023, a settler group calling itself “Hilltop Youth” confiscated dozens of dunams of private Palestinian lands in the village.

They then brought their cows into the area and began grazing before placing the mobile homes under the protection of the Israeli army.

The Israeli government helped them with water and electricity supplies, he said, and over time the small buildings turned into an informal outpost of the settlement.

The area conquered by the settlers is where most of the villagers’ olive trees are located, meaning they have no access to their land and cannot harvest this year’s crop.

The Israeli government confiscated thousands of dunums from al-Lubban al-Gharbi to build the settlement of Beit Aryeh-Ofarim, founded in 1981.

Of the original 10,000 dunams (1,000 hectares) that made up the area, villagers were only left with about 280 dunams to build on.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Under international law, settlements built on occupied land are considered illegal.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

More attacks

Elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers carried out another attack in the village of Burka, east of Ramallah, on Saturday, injuring at least one Palestinian.

Muhammad Sumrain, a journalist from the village, told MEE that dozens of settlers from the Tzur Harel settlement outpost attacked agricultural areas in the town that evening.

“Settlers attack the village almost every week”

– Muhammad Sumrain, Palestinian journalist

During the attack, settlers set fire to crops while the Israeli army supported them and fired live bullets at residents who tried to resist the attack, wounding one person in the foot, according to Sumrain.

“Almost every week, settlers repeatedly attack the village to force residents not to approach their land,” he said.

In Beit Sira, west of Ramallah, the Israeli army fired stun grenades at several families while they were picking olives on the first day of this season.

No injuries were reported in the attack, but people were forced to leave their country.