West Bank farmers gather precious olives as harvest season brings new settler attacks

Afaf Abu Alia had woken early on 19 October to join her grandchildren picking olives near the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, when she heard a woman scream "settlers".

Masked men burst out of the trees, one of whom hit 55-year-old Abu Alia on the head with a club, according to her account and a video verified by Reuters showing the attack.

While mediators try to bolster a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, intensified Israeli settler violence targetting the Palestinian olive harvest in the occupied West Bank has continued unabated, according to Palestinian and UN officials.

"I fell to the ground and I couldn't feel anything," Abu Alia told Reuters on Wednesday, her right eye bruised from the assault.

Symbol of Palestinian connection to the land

Since the harvest began in the first week of October, there have been at least 158 attacks across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to figures made public by the Palestinian Authority's Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC).

There was a 13% rise in settler attacks in the first two weeks of the 2025 harvest compared to the same period in 2024, said Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Activists and farmers say the violence has intensified since the Hamas-led attacks that triggered the war in Gaza two years ago. They say settlers target olive trees because Palestinians see them as a symbol of their connection to the land.

"The olive tree is a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness," said Adham al-Rabia, a Palestinian activist.

The UN's Sunghay said that this season settlers had burned groves, chain-sawed olive trees, and destroyed homes and agricultural infrastructure.

"Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency, with the acquiescence, support, and in many cases participation, of Israeli security forces – and always with impunity," he said in a regular update on the olive harvest season on Tuesday.

The Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, which governs Israeli West Bank settlements in the region of Turmus Ayya, said it condemned "every instance of violence that occurs" in the area.

It noted that settlers carried weapons "intended solely for self-defense".

Economic importance of olives

Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future nation existing alongside Israel, but settlements have expanded rapidly, fragmenting the land.

Palestinians and most nations regard settlements as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.

Olives are the backbone of Palestinian agriculture, a sector which accounts for around 8% of GDP and more than 60,000 jobs, according to the Palestinian Authority's agriculture ministry.

A few kilometres from Turmus Ayya lies the village of al-Mughayyir, where Abu Alia is from. She and her family came to Turmus Ayya because settlers cut down their orchard of about 500 olive trees near al-Mughayyir a few weeks earlier, according to a relative. In return for harvesting the olives, the family would receive a share of the crop.

The Israeli military said they cut down over 3,000 trees in the area "to improve defenses", though locals say the real number is higher. A combination of military orders and settler violence has left villagers unable to access most of their crops.

Marzook Abu Naem, a local council member, said settlers and military orders had almost totally blocked access to olive groves. The economic impact meant some young people were delaying university and meat had become a luxury for many, he said.

The agriculture ministry recorded a 17% increase in financial losses for West Bank farmers from the start of 2025 until mid-October, compared to the same period last year.

The CWRC says more than 15,000 trees have been attacked since October 2024.

Israeli military role

Many Palestinians, as well as Israeli human rights groups, believe the army has abetted settler attacks.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the claim.

Activist Rabia works with the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights to organize volunteers to protect farmers during the harvest. On October 15, a Reuters reporter witnessed an army unit blocking him and the volunteers from accessing a field.

Palestinian activists and farmers manage WhatsApp groups to send warnings about approaching settlers.

Yasser Al-Qam, a lawyer from Turmus Ayya who witnessed the attack on Abu Alia, said Israeli soldiers had left him and a friend alone with settlers before the assault.

The Israel Defense Forces said they had sent troops and police to defuse the confrontation and were not aware of soldiers being present at the time of the attack.

"The IDF is operating to enable the harvest season to proceed in a proper and safe manner for all residents," it said in a statement to Reuters following the incident.

A few days after the attack, families and international volunteers brought thermoses of coffee and bread to share as they returned to the Turmus Ayya groves to pick olives.