West Bank: Armed settlers attack Palestinians on first day of olive harvest
As the olive harvest season began in Palestine, Hasem Salama took his family to their land in the al-Lubban al-Gharbi village, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Before they could begin picking their olives, more than 50 masked and armed Israeli settlers appeared as soon as they arrived on Saturday morning.
They attacked them and beat them without justification, Salama said, leaving 11 people wounded, including women and a child.
"My nephew, who is seven years old, suffered bruises after they beat him without hesitation,” Salama told Middle East Eye.
“Two of the women sustained injuries to their hands during the barbaric attack," he added.
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When they tried to push back against the attackers, the settlers intensified their assault, swinging iron pipes at the Palestinian residents.
Many people suffered bone fractures, including Salama, whose legs were wounded, leaving him unable to stand.
Israeli forces eventually arrived at the scene. However, eyewitnesses reported that they sided with the settlers, helping to expel the residents from the area without arresting any of the attackers.
"This is not the first time we have been attacked while picking olives, but it is the most brutal,” said Jasser Samhan, a landowner in the village.
“The army supported them and fired sound bombs at us to force us to leave our land and trees.”
Seizing lands
Samhan said that in August 2023, a group of settlers calling themselves “Hilltop Youth” seized dozens of dunams of private Palestinian lands in the village.
They then brought their cows to the area and began grazing before placing mobile homes under the protection of the Israeli army.
The Israeli government helped them with water and electricity supplies, he said, and over time, the small structures turned into an informal settlement outpost.
The area seized by the settlers contains most of the villagers' olive trees, which means they cannot access their land and reap this year's crop.
The Israeli government confiscated thousands of dunums of al-Lubban al-Gharbi to build the settlement of Beit Aryeh-Ofarim, established in 1981.
Of the original 10,000 dunams (1,000 hectares) that constituted the area, only around 280 dunams were left for the villagers to build on.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since 1967. Under international law, settlements built on occupied land are considered illegal.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
More attacks
Elsewhere in the West Bank on Saturday, settlers launched another attack in the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, injuring at least one Palestinian.
Muhammad Sumrain, a journalist from the village, told MEE that dozens of settlers from the Tzur Harel settlement outpost attacked agricultural lands in the town that evening.
'Almost every week, settlers attack the village'
- Muhammad Sumrain, Palestinian journalist
During the attack, settlers set fire to crops while the Israeli army supported them and fired live bullets at residents who tried to confront the assault, wounding one person in the foot, according to Sumrain.
“Almost every week, settlers attack the village repeatedly to force the residents not to approach their lands,” he said.
In Beit Sira, west of Ramallah, the Israeli army fired stun grenades at several families while they were picking olives on the first day of this season.
No injuries were reported from the attack, but people were forced to leave their lands.
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