With olive harvest underway, Palestinian farmers fear Israeli settler attacks

As Abdel Kareem Na'ssan stands on the edge of an olive grove near the village ofAl-Mughayyirin the occupied West Bank, he is visibly uncomfortable. The farmer's eyes scan the ridge line of rugged hills at the outposts belonging to Israeli settlers.

Any sound of traffic on a nearby road causes him to whip his head around to see who may be approaching.

Earlier this month, it was near this area where he says he and his family were confronted by dozens of Israeli settlers while trying to harvest their olive trees.

"They were throwing stones at us. They were shooting at us," he said in an interview with CBC News.

"They uprooted our trees."

Kareem Na'ssan's experience is one of 32 attacks on Palestinians' olive harvests in the West Bank this month, according to officials with the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The crucialharvesting period typically runs from around October to November, and UN officials are labelling this year's "the most dangerous olive season ever."

The officials accuse the settlers of using "war-like tactics,"including setting fire to olive trees,as Palestinians tryto harvest a crop that is not only an economic "lifeline for tens of thousands of families," but a cultural symbol, representing connection to the land.

Palestinian woman shot and killed

There has been a surge in violencebetween Palestinians and Israelisin the West Bank, ever since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 and took about 250 hostage, by Israeli figures. Israel's ensuingwar in Gaza has killed over 42,000, by Palestinian counts.

Following the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli authorities cancelled almost all Palestinian harvest approvals in the West Bank, citing security issues,resulting in an estimated loss of more than 1,200 tonnes of olive oil and $10 million US last year. OCHA also reported 113 harvest-related settler attacks between September and Novemberthat year, and over 2,000 olivetrees vandalized.

This year, on Oct. 17, the Israeli military killed Hanan Salameh, a 60-year-old woman who washarvesting olives near Jenin.

Salameh'sfamily said they had obtained a permit from Israeli authorities allowingthem to harvest the trees near the security barrier, as long as they kept 100 metres away from it.

"We started packing our stuff and leaving," her son, Faris Salameh, toldReuters from the woman's funeral, where her body was wrapped in a Palestinian flag and carried through her village.

"She was shot by the tractor ... far from the fence."

The Israeli military said the commanding officer has been suspended while aninvestigation is underway.

Precarious olive picking

The same morning the woman was shot, a CBC News crew was in the olive groves near Al-Mughayyir,where around a dozen Palestinians were harvesting olive trees.

One family covered up their vehicle with olive branches as they tried to remain inconspicuous from the road.

Lutfieh Abu Alia, 55, saidher family decided to park farther away and walkinto the grove, in an attempt to attract less attention from the nearby Israeli settlements.

"Every olive that I pick is in fear," said Abu Alia.

"We are broke. We risked our lives for the olive harvest."

She says the olives will be pressed to make oil which they can sell to help support themselves. Since last fall, she says the men in her family have been unable to work because of Israeli road closures that have restricted movement.

According to the UN,in the wake of Oct. 7, more than 300,000 jobs have been lost in the West Bank, pushing the territory's unemployment rate to just over 30 per cent. Alarge part of this is becauseIsrael barred around 140,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank from entering Israel last fall, pointing tosecurity concerns.

Traditional ritual threatened

The village of Al-Mughayyir,where farmers rely on growing olives and almonds and herding sheep, is frequentlyat the centre of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.

The settlements have been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, along with several countries, including Canada, but the number of settlers in the West Bank continues to rise, with now more than 500,000 estimated to be living there, in an area captured by Israel during the 1967 war.

Amin Abu Alia, mayorof Al-Mughayyir, says the settlers are not only threatening the safety of the olive pickers, but are alsodestroying their traditions.

The annual olive harvest is normally a large family gathering, where small children can run up and down the olive groves, but they are now being kept away, he says.

"Now you find people going to their lands in small numbers to harvest their olive trees, as if they are thieves trying to harvest as much as they can before the settlersand the army come," said Abu Alia.

"The settlers are cutting down trees which are older than the [Israeli]occupation."

Trees cut and burned

On social media, video has emerged of attacks, including settlers lighting olive trees on fire.

UN officials say that 600 trees, mostly olive, have been cut, burnt, stolen or otherwisevandalized by settlers since thestart of this year's harvest.

Abdel Kareem Na'ssan says the settlers who confronted himmainly appeared to bein their 20s, and they were uprooting trees that were 40 or 50 years old.

He said Israeli authorities had given him permission to pick their own trees, as they lay on the other side of a security gate that Israel had installed.

Kareem Na'ssan says he will not attempt to harvest his trees again unless the Israeli military promises him protection.

The Israel DefenceForces has not yet responded to a request from CBC News for furtherinformation about the olive harvest, but the military has said the increased violence in the West Bank have made security harder to manage, according to Reuters.

Some farmers, including 71-year old KamelNa'ssan(no relation to Abdel Kareem Na'ssan), are not even trying to access their trees this year.

He stands in an olive grove looking up a ride line, where he and his brother'strees are. Last year, when they tried to pick them, he said Israeli settlers showed up, grabbed the sacks of olives and threw them on the ground.

"They say, 'This mountain is for Israel, it's not for you,'" he recounted to CBC News.

"They tell you if you come in, next time they will kill you. What are you going to do?"

WATCH | How settler violence in West Bank has affected vital olive harvest:

Palestinian olive harvest marred by violence

24 days ago

Duration 5:12

The olive harvest in the northern occupied West Bank has been severely hindered by violence this year due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. CBCs Briar Stewart hears from the Palestinian farmers facing a tough choice: risk their safety or livelihoods.