A large group of Israeli settlers on Saturday morning violently beat a young Palestinian woman while she was picking olives from trees in an orchard in the village of Yasuf in the Salfit district in the central West Bank, a Palestinian official said. The assault is the third such attack on Palestinian olive pickers in three days, creating concern about unchecked settler violence as the olive harvest kicks off across the West Bank. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that 25-year-old Alaa Fathi Atiyani and her children were picking olives in a field in the al-Masamic area outside of Yasuf village at the time of the alleged assault. He said that ten settlers arrived from the nearby Kfar Tappuah settlement and assaulted Atiyani, beating her "brutally." Daghlas said Atiyani sustained serious bruises all over her body as a result of the attack. Daghlas added that Israeli troops...

From the International Solidarity Movement - Tuesday afternoon, the 7th of October, olive farmer Mahmoud Rga Mahoud Aid, his wife and their three children were attacked by a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Giv’at Ya’akov. The attack took place on the family´s land near the village of Burin, south west of Nablus. The the family had only three days permission from the District Coordination Office (DCO) to access their land and pick their olives, starting from the 6th of October. To harvest all the olives on the land would normally take about a month. On the first day of picking, Zionist settlers came down from the illegal settlement and tried to prevent Mahmoud from entering his land. The Israeli military interfered and told the settlers to leave, and Mahmoud was able to finish his working day without further interference from the settlers. On the second day of picking the family was able to access the land, but, in the midst of picking, the nearby soldiers started y...

Gaza's ministry of agriculture celebrated on Thursday the beginning of the olive harvest season for this year. Minister Ali Al-Tarshawi and staff from the agriculture ministry attended the celebration, which took place at an olive farm in Khan Younis City, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Al-Tarshawi expressed his happiness with the start of the harvest season and announced that the Gaza Strip is expected to produce around 10,000 tons of olives this season. However, he explained that this amount is far less than the amount produced in the previous year. He said that his ministry is planning to import olives from the occupied West Bank to meet the remaining demand of the Gaza Strip. more

[Monday morning September 23, 2013] a group of armed extremist Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian orchard, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and uprooted its trees. “Death To Arabs” Graffiti found near Tel Aviv. Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of Israeli Settlements File at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, stated that the settlers illegally occupied the land before uprooting it. He added that dozens of settlers arrived into the area, located near the Awarta-Aqraba road, close to the Itamar illegal settlement, and carried out their attack while Israeli soldiers, who arrived at the site, did not attempt to stop them. The attack came a few hours after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, decided to boost settlement activities in the occupied territories, and to allow the settlers into a Palestinian home in Hebron. more

At a time of regular settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to join us for the 2013 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities. The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted, burned and destroyed by Israeli settlers and the military – according to the UN settlers alone destroyed or damaged over 7,500 trees just in 2012 – harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance. The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual, and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite attempts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest. ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities e...

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Thursday uprooted over 700 olive trees near Arraba village in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Legislative Council member Najah Abu Bakr said. The trees belonged to Palestinians in Arraba, south of Jenin, close to the Israeli settlement Mevo Dotan, the MP said in a statement. On Tuesday, Israeli forces destroyed over 1,300 olive trees in the south Hebron hills of the southern West Bank. more

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revealed that the Jewish settlers continued their attacks against the Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year where they destroyed more than 7500 olive trees. Nearly half (48%) of the agricultural land in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) is planted with 8 million olive trees, the vast majority are in the West Bank, the report revealed, adding that the olive oil industry makes up 14% of the agricultural income for the oPt and supports the livelihoods of approximately 80,000 families. OCHA report, issued on Thursday, stated that the olive harvest is an economic, social and cultural important occasion for the Palestinian society, while the occupation authorities deliberately prevented those who own agricultural fields located in the areas between the barrier and the Green Line or near the Jewish settlements in the West Bank to obtain permits allowing...

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- A group of Israeli settlers in Hebron in the occupied West Bank were caught Thursday stealing olives from Palestinian farmland, local activists said. The Palestinian group Youth Against Settlements released the video of settlers at work on the olive trees "in line with the Israeli plan to control Hebron." “Olive season is starting. This means national events will begin soon, and we will work on organizing more national events in Tal Rmaideh to prevent settlers from attacking Palestinian lands. "Palestinians will look after their land and never forget it," said Issa Amro. Settler attacks on Palestinian communities and their property are systematic and rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities. more

At a time of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2012 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities. The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by Israeli settlers and the military – (over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000) – harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance. The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual, and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest. more