Israeli settlers have carried out attacks and pogroms disrupting the Palestinian olive harvest in the West Bank, while Israeli forces separately detained several Palestinians across the occupied territory.
At least 19 settler attacks were recorded on Friday by the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian government body operating under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
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The commission said the incidents included attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters, the burning and uprooting of olive trees, and the theft of crops and livestock. Other Palestinians and their vehicles were also targeted.
Settlers set fire to Palestinian-owned groves and stole olives in what is considered the most important season for harvesting the single-seeded stone fruit.
More than 50 olive trees were uprooted by settlers in Qusra, the commission said.
Settlers also assaulted and injured Palestinian farmers involved in the harvest in the Tal, where a Palestinian-owned vehicle was set on fire, it added.
Additionally, olive harvesters were attacked in Jorish, Beita, Naqoura, Birzeit, Deir Bzeih and Farata.
A farmer was injured in reported gunfire in Kafr ad-Dik, and the use of live ammunition was reported during a settler pogrom, backed by Israeli forces, in Deir Ballut.
Elsewhere, an elderly Palestinian woman in Berin, east of Hebron, was injured after settlers set their dogs on farmers while sheep were stolen in Ein Qinya.
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A Palestinian man and his child were attacked and their vehicle stolen by settlers in Yabrud. Settler attacks on Palestinian-owned vehicles were also reported in the towns of Sarda and al-Rihan.
Brazen attacks against Palestinians
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank said settlers, backed Israeli forces, have grown more brazen in their attacks against Palestinians during the olive harvest despite the presence of foreign activists and observers.
“Palestinians have to go about the harvest in large groups, that include international solidarity activists, to try to stop settler intimidation and attacks,” Ibrahim said, adding that the settlers wait for the groups to start leaving at the end of the harvest, before springing into action.
“It has become a very difficult journey, as the Palestinians try to leave the harvesting areas, Israeli settlers continue to intimidate them under the protection of the Israeli army,” she said.
As Ibrahim reported, a Palestinian family was under attack by Israeli settlers who recently started building an illegal settlement outpost near Ramallah, “using it as a base to attack Palestinians”, she said.
“No one is being spared,” said Ibrahim.
For Palestinians, the olive harvest is supposed to be a joyous season, but instead, they fear settler attacks and intimidation backed by the Israeli forces.
Sixteen Palestinians arrested
As settler attacks and pogroms continue, the Israeli army arrested 16 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency and local sources speaking to the Anadolu news agency.
In Hebron, southern West Bank, Israeli forces arrested nine Palestinians after raiding and searching their homes, including Ibrahimi Mosque Director Moataz Abu Sneineh and Hammam Abu Markhiya, an official responsible for the mosque’s custodians, Wafa reported.
In the city of Qalqilya, Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians during a raid, local sources said.
Two other Palestinians were arrested after Israeli forces raided and searched several homes in Beita, south of Nablus, the sources said.
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