Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers in farmland near Ramallah, leaving farmers and a US photographer injured in a fresh wave of Palestine West Bank attacks during the annual olive harvest.
Witnesses and local officials described assaults near the Palestinian village of Abu Falah, east of Ramallah, and in Burqa. Settlers set fire to olive trees and cars, drove families from their land, and left several people needing hospital care. Injury figures differ: a local official put the toll at 12 Palestinians, including four dual Palestinian-American citizens, while the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams treated six people on Friday.
What happened near Ramallah
In the early morning near Abu Falah, wounded farmers were seen leaving on a stony track with olive-picking gear as smoke rose from fires. Majdi Fheed, a dual Palestinian-American citizen, said attackers used guns, rocks and other weapons and struck his head and neck. Yaser AlKam, a council member from neighbouring Turmus Aya, said settlers beat Majdi with nail-studded sticks, leaving deep head wounds, and that Majdi's elderly mother was also hurt.
Another man ferrying the injured said settlers attacked with sticks and burned three cars, including his own. A woman with him said the group fled as soon as settlers approached after they put their tools on the ground. Elsewhere near an outpost that is illegal under international law, about a dozen settlers in black charged downhill toward harvesters and activists, torching roughly a dozen trees and throwing stones from slingshots.
Journalist hurt and US response
American photographer Heidi Levine, who was at the scene, was taken to hospital. She told reporters she "got jumped" and described being kicked while on the ground. A foreign journalist was among those injured in the wider assault, alongside several Palestinian-American citizens.
A US State Department spokesperson said Washington was aware of the reports, condemned "criminal violence by any party in the West Bank," and called for investigations, arrests and convictions of those responsible.
Medics, forces and a spike in violence
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated four people after a settler assault on olive harvesters in Burqa, and two more—including a woman—after an attack in Abu Falah that it said took place under the protection of Israeli occupation forces. Local sources also reported that those forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at civilians during a group settler attack in Abu Falah to push them off the land.
The United Nations said the past two weeks had already seen more attacks by violent Israeli settlers than during the entire harvest season last year, and that settler violence this year had reached an all-time high. Palestine West Bank attacks of this kind have long shadowed the olive harvest, when families depend on access to trees for food and income.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- This olive harvest season: Settler assaults on Palestinian farmers have risen, including beatings, gunfire, blocked access to land, crop theft and tree destruction, according to local accounts.
- Past two weeks: The UN said violent settler attacks already exceeded the whole of last year's harvest season and that levels this year are at an all-time high.
- Friday: The Palestine Red Crescent treated six people after settler attacks on olive harvesters in Burqa and Abu Falah, near Ramallah.
- Same period near Abu Falah: Witnesses described fires, burned cars, wounded farmers leaving the fields, and an American photographer taken to hospital after being assaulted.
Aasan alfaaz mein
West Bank mein olive torne walon par Israeli settlers ne hamla kiya. Kai log zakhmi hue, gaariyan aur olive ke darakht jalaye gaye. Ek American photographer bhi hospital gayi. Yeh fasal gharilon ke khane aur kamai ke liye bohot zaroori hai, is liye aisa khauf unki rozmarra zindagi ko seedha chhuta hai.
