"Resistance to the Wall": 259 Assaults Against Olive Pickers Since the Start of the Season

SadaNews - The head of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, Minister Muayyad Shaaban, stated that the occupation army and settlers have carried out a total of 259 assaults against olive pickers since the start of the season in the first week of October until now.

He added in a press statement issued today, Tuesday, that the commission's teams have monitored 41 incidents of assault by the occupation army, and 218 incidents by settlers, indicating that these assaults ranged from violent physical assaults, arrests, restrictions on movement and access denial, to intimidation and terror in all its forms, including direct gunfire as occurred in the Tubas Governorate.

Assaults concentrated in the following governorates: Ramallah with 83, Nablus with 69, followed by Hebron with 34.

Shaaban mentioned that this season has recorded 63 cases of restricting movement and terrorizing olive pickers, in addition to 44 cases of beating and assault against farmers.

Shaaban pointed out that this season, which coincided with the ongoing aggression against our people, is considered the most difficult and dangerous in recent decades, due to the exploitation of the army and settlers of wartime systems to commit crimes, supported by many policies and legislations that enhance incidents of assault, terrorism, and restrictions, especially the closure of governorates and the handing over of weapons to settler militias. Most alarming is their exemption from accountability and prosecution. He added that this season has seen further imposition of closed military zones on agricultural lands.

Shaaban also stated that 125 incidents of assault against olive-planted lands have occurred this season, including 46 incidents of cutting, breaking, and uprooting olive trees, leading to the destruction of a total of 1,070 olive trees.

He indicated that the escalating pattern of assaults recorded by the documentation teams in the commission over the past seasons reflects a policy that has become significantly tangible in the terrorist targeting of the Palestinian olive season. The assaults increased from 136 incidents in the 2022 season, to 333 in the 2023 season, reaching 407 incidents in 2024, with 259 incidents thus far in the current season, which clearly demonstrates the extent of the targeting faced by Palestinian farmers.

Shaaban called on the countries of the world to move from the realm of slogans to real action, an action that would protect the Palestinian people and their national resources, in light of the crime of the era represented by state terrorism and the official sponsorship of settler gangs.