Palestinian farmers driven out from their olive groves by Israeli soldiers
Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters at the farmers as they were heading to harvest their olive trees.
Nablus, October, 22, 2019 ( WAFA) — Israeli soldiers today 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, according to local sources.
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.
Daghlas noted that farmers were prevented from harvesting their olive groves in this area for the fourth day in a row although they were not required to obtain a permit to access their groves.
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.
Settlers attacked olive harvesters in Burin, a village south of Nablus, on 12 October, the same day as a 55-year-old Palestinian farmer was attacked by settlers in the nearby village of Tel. Two days prior, settlers stole olives from trees belonging to farmers also in the same area.
Armed settlers attacked farmers in the village Shufa, near the city Tulkarem in the north, who threatened to shoot farmers if they did not leave their land.’
The most devastating attack occurred on the morning of 16 October when more than 30 masked armed settlers charged at Palestinian farmers and foreign volunteers in Burin, attacking three internationals and seriously injuring one, including 80-year-old Rabbi Moshe Yehuda from the Rabbis for Human Rights organization.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Over 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law
