Palestinian olive harvest starts under settler attack fears

Palestinian olive farmers in the occupied West Bank say they are harvesting early or avoiding fields because they fear further settler attacks as the harvest season begins and Israel heads toward elections on October 27.

Abdellatif Bazzari, a farmer near the village of Burqa, said he was injured when about 15 to 20 Israeli settlers raided a field where his family was picking olives by hand on October 7. He said his cousin Ali Bazzari was shot dead after the Israeli army intervened, and that he is afraid to return to finish the harvest without army protection.

The Israeli military said troops and border police went to the area after reports of rock hurling toward an injured Israeli civilian. It said that during a confrontation between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli settlers, a commander identified a person it called a terrorist running toward him with a suspicious object and “neutralised him”.

Bazzari and other Palestinians interviewed by AFP said danger areas for the olive harvest have grown as settlements have expanded. Some farmers said they believe violence could worsen before the Israeli election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking right-wing support.

Olives account for an estimated 15 percent of the West Bank's agricultural GDP and are a major symbol of Palestinian attachment to the land. The harvest lasts more than a month and is usually carried out by families, friends and workers picking by hand.

Mahmoud Fatafta of the Palestinian Authority's agriculture ministry said his teams had recorded 300 incidents involving settlers and olives so far this autumn, before the official start of the harvest on October 15. Israeli rights group Yesh Din reported 100 thefts, including settlers taking sacks of harvested olives or harvesting directly from Palestinian land.

Yesh Din said 25 percent of incidents occurred in the presence of the Israeli military and described the violence as part of an Israeli policy to prevent the harvest, harm Palestinians economically and drive them off their land. The claim was made by the rights group.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Settler attacks against Palestinians, including beatings, vandalism and arson, averaged six a day in the first half of the year, according to the United Nations.