According to a report from the United Nations agency, the number of Israeli settler attacks and damage to olive harvests in the occupied West Bank is at its highest level since 2020.
More than 4, 000 olive trees and saplings were vandalized, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday, according to a report from the organization on Friday.
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In the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, Israelis from illegal settlements reportedly set two Palestinian vehicles on fire, according to Al Jazeera correspondents on Friday.
After expelling residents in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers took possession of Palestinian farmers’ olives. Area B of the West Bank, which does not require Palestinians to coordinate with the Israeli army, is designated as a closed military zone despite the Oslo Accords’ terms for it.
A closed military zone order is a temporary, non-transferable measure that allows the army to enter a specific area. Palestinian land has been declared “state land” or “military zone” by Israel after it was seized from its owners.
As part of repeated Israeli government efforts to seize Palestinian land and forcefully evict residents, the Israeli military has been removing olive trees, an important cultural symbol for Palestine, across the occupied West Bank for decades.
After settlers arrived on the scene on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers used tear gas to disperse Palestinians who were picking their olives in the village of Turmus Aya, near Ramallah.
These actions go against army orders that require soldiers to protect olive harvesters. A military commander must not close locations in a way that would prevent Palestinian residents from obtaining their agricultural lands, according to Israel’s High Court of Justice ruling in 2006.
More than 3, 000 trees and saplings have been vandalized, according to OCHA, and at least 112 Palestinians have been injured since early October.
The UN agency documented 49 Israeli-occupied Palestinian attacks between October 14 and October 20. Palestinians in 25 villages and towns were the victims of the attacks, which occurred during the olive harvest season, which officially began on October 9.
Consolidating the annexation
According to information from the Israeli NGO Peace Now, settler violence has been pervasive in the occupied West Bank, with 757 attacks only recorded in the first half of 2025. In comparison to the same time last year, this is a 13% increase.
The International Court of Justice requested in September 2025 that the Israeli occupation be ended, but things haven’t improved.
A bill imposing Israeli rule over the occupied West Bank was approved by Israel’s parliament last week, which would amount to an annexation of Palestinian territory.
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will then hear it for further discussion.
The vote came a month after Donald Trump declared that he would not allow Israel to annex Palestinian territory.
As stated in numerous UN resolutions, an annexation of the occupied West Bank would effectively eliminate the possibility of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The Trump administration has vehemently opposed to allowing Israel to annex the occupied territory. Trump vowed to oppose Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, and US Vice President JD Vance said it would not happen while Trump was in Israel last week. As he left Israel, Vance said, “If it was a political stunt, it is very stupid one, and I personally take some insults to it.”
Despite blatantly promoting its Gaza ceasefire efforts, the US hasn’t done anything to stop Israel’s heavy assault and crackdown on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Olive farming in Gaza has been destroyed.
The destruction caused by the war has now robbed Palestinian farmers of their livelihoods and destroyed most olive presses, which were once destroyed annually in the West Bank and Gaza.
As he looked after a poor crop, Mohammed Oweida, a Palestinian who fled Gaza, spoke to Al Jazeera.
He claimed that Israel’s bulldozers had caused the enclave’s olive trees to dry up or perish due to the country’s severe lack of water resources.
Owner of the Nasser Odeh Olive Press Group, Nasser Odeh, claimed that his facilities, which were used to transport olive oil from small Palestinian farms to the Gulf, had been “completely destroyed.”
He lamented that they used to produce between 15 and 20 tons per year and that they were recognized as among the largest producers in the Middle East and adhered to ISO standards.
This year’s harvest is the third farmers have lost to war, according to Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili, who is based in the Deir el-Balah enclave.
