The olive harvest season in the West Bank is no longer a time Palestinians eagerly await to reap the fruits of their trees and reconnect with the land, a tradition passed down through generations. Instead, under the escalating attacks of the occupation and settlers, it has become a season of persecution, fear, arson, and theft. Farmers go out to their land carrying harvesting tools, unsure whether they will return with their crops, with new injuries, or to find their ancestral trees consumed by fire or uprooted.
In a scene that repeats itself daily, attacks on olive harvesters and their lands have become part of the Palestinian narrative, burdened with violations. Daily statistics have become an open record of a tragedy whose chapters are constantly unfolding, amidst an international silence that falls far short of addressing the scale of the crimes committed against the farmers.
On Thursday, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission documented 13 attacks carried out by occupation forces and settlers against olive harvesters and their lands in eight West Bank governorates within a mere 12-hour period, from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
The attacks included beating farmers, spraying them with pepper spray, firing live ammunition to terrorize citizens, burning dozens of ancient olive trees, stealing crops and harvesting equipment, bulldozing agricultural lands, uprooting trees, detaining farmers and preventing them from accessing their lands.
The danger of these attacks doesn’t stop at the direct losses inflicted on farmers and their crops. For Palestinians, the olive tree is more than just a source of livelihood; it represents a historical connection to the land and an extension of the inherited relationship between people and their place. These ancient trees carry the memory of families and generations who have cultivated and cared for them.
Therefore, burning and uprooting trees, bulldozing land, and stealing crops are not merely attacks on an agricultural season, but rather strikes at the very foundations of the economic and social lives of families who depend on olives and olive oil to meet their annual needs.
The losses are compounded when farmers are denied access to their land after a full year of care and waiting, or when they lose their trees, which require many years to regenerate and become productive again. This makes these attacks a direct assault on the future of the land and the livelihoods of its owners.
