Settler violence interrupts the olive harvest in the West Bank

The scene shocked many and highlighted the violence of this year’s olive harvest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank: a young masked man punches an elderly Palestinian woman picking olives, who then collapses to the ground.

The incident during an attack by Israeli settlers, filmed by an American journalist, took place in the town of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah, a hot spot for violence this year.

“Everyone ran away because the settlers attacked suddenly, maybe 100 of them,” said witness Yasser Alkam. AFPadding that a Swedish activist had also had his arm and leg broken by settlers.

Alkam, an official in the town of Turmus Ayya, said the woman, 55-year-old Um Saleh Abu Aliya, was hit as she waited for her son to chase her away from a mob of settlers.

“The opposition would only bring more violence, sometimes with the support of the army,” lamented Nael al-Qouq, a Turmus Ayya farmer who was not allowed to reach his olive groves that day.

Expanded settlements

Not far from the site, an Israeli flag flutters in the wind at a settlement outpost, illegal even under Israeli law.

The army finally reached Turmus Ayya and dispersed the crowd with tear gas AFP witness journalist.

But not before the youths who descended on the village burned at least two cars.

Israel’s West Bank police chief, Moshe Pinchi, told his district commanders to find the man who attacked Abu Aliya, according to a leaked WhatsApp message reported by Israeli media.

the Israeli military said AFP that it is “working in coordination with the Israel Police to enforce the law regarding Israelis involved in such incidents.”

But Turmus Ayya is far from an isolated case and AFP journalists have witnessed at least six different cases of Palestinians being denied access to their land, attacked by settlers or vandalized during the 2025 olive harvest.

Conflict in rural areas has reached new heights this year, fueled by ever-expanding Israeli settlements and a growing number of settlers – not all of whom are violent against Palestinians.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

All settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.

“rooted”

Near Turmus Ayya, in the village of Al-Mughayyir, a villager was prevented from harvesting completely.

“I have ten dunams (one hectare) of olives. All I have left are the olives in the garden at home… They uprooted them all,” said Abdul Latif Abu Aliya, 55. AFP.

Abu Aliya’s land is bordered by a road on the other side of which three trailers form a newly established settlement outpost.

After a settler was injured during a fight near Abu Aliya’s home, an army order called for the trees planted by his father and grandfather to be uprooted.

Bulldozers then pushed piles of dirt and roots halfway across the field and 100 meters from the family’s home, creating a barrier that Abu Aliya and his family do not cross for fear of being attacked by settlers.

Faced with unprecedented violence during this year’s olive harvest season, the Palestinian Authority’s agriculture minister called on the international community to protect farmers and collectors.

“This is the worst season in the last 60 years,” Agriculture Minister Rizk Salimia told reporters, adding that this year’s harvest was already poor due to bad weather.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories, condemned the “serious attacks” during this year’s harvest and deplored “dangerous levels of impunity” for the perpetrators.

The annual harvest, once a peaceful gathering for families in the occupied West Bank, has in recent years turned into a series of increasingly violent clashes involving Israeli settlers, troops, Palestinian harvesters and foreign activists.

Identity token

The season began in October and will run until mid-November, as Palestinians across the West Bank harvest olives from trees they consider deeply connected to their national identity.

The West Bank boasts over eight million olive trees for three million Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s 2021 census.

Every autumn, Palestinian farmers, but also city people whose families have few trees, go out into the fields to pick olives, mostly by hand.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said 27 West Bank villages were affected by harvest-related attacks in the week of October 7-13 alone.

“Incidents included attacks on harvesters, theft of crops and harvesting equipment, and vandalism of olive trees, resulting in casualties, property damage, or both,” OCHA said.