Israeli soldiers attack olive harvesters in West Bank — Again
NABLUS, October 24, 2019 (WAFA) — Israeli soldiers today attacked olive harvesters in al-Lubban al-Sharqiya village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and held some of them, reported WAFA correspondent.
He said the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, Fatah movement and al-Lubban village council have organized a voluntary workday to help Palestinian farmers in the village to harvest their olive crops in their lands located near the illegal Jewish settlement of Eliah.
The soldiers attacked the volunteers and farmers, beat them up and threw stun grenades in their direction to get them to leave their lands.
They also held the head of the village council and another volunteer for a while and also seized mobile phones of journalists who were covering the event.
Local and international volunteers often help farmers in areas close to the settlements to harvest their crops, mainly during the olive harvest season, while providing them with protection from settler attacks.
Over the past two weeks, the West Bank witnessed a wave of settler attacks and agricultural terrorism as Palestinian farmers began the year’s olive harvest. Attacks were mainly in northern villages near Nablus and Salfit, governorates with the largest concentration of illegal Israeli settlements.
Two days ago, Israeli soldiers forced Palestinian farmers picking their olives out of their land at gunpoint in the village of Qaryut, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, for the fourth consecutive day.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told WAFA that Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters at the farmers as they were heading to harvest their olive trees in the western part of the village.
