A one page digest of Israel’s ongoing dispossession of Palestinian land and livelihoods, and Palestinian resistance.
As in former years, olive harvest season is a perilous time for Palestinian farmers
Since Oct. 3rd there have been at least 18 attacks by settlers who have uprooted olive and fruit trees, sprayed trees with toxins, seized crops and assaulted farmers in various parts West Bank. On Oct. 9 in Burin south of Nablus, settlers from Yitzhar (a notorious seedbed for violence) prevented farmers from harvesting olives and stole their equipment. Settlers from the Rahalim outpost used rocks and pepper spray in an assault on Palestinian farmers from Yasouf near Salfit, injuring four. They also smashed a car and drove off with harvested olives and ladders. In Ar-Ras near Salfit, Mohammed Khatib, a Palestinian activist with a group of volunteer olive pickers called Faz’a, was beaten by soldiers and then arrested, along with two Israeli activists. Up to 100,000 Palestinian families rely on the olive harvest, and according to the ICRC, some 9,300 trees have been destroyed in this past year.
Emboldened settlers are rarely called to account; Israeli minister hopes to change that
This Oct. 7 Haaretz headline reflects a reality long fueling settler impunity: “Israeli Army identified settler who shot at Palestinians with soldier’s gun, but did nothing.” Israel’s security forces have done little even when they are the ones under attack. On Oct. 11, dozens of settlers from Yitzhar attacked the Border Police with rocks and paint when they tried to dismantle a tent in a closed military area, injuring one and damaging vehicles. The unit commander said they didn’t act forcefully to disperse the mob “because we were in a Jewish community, and we understood that.” On Oct. 13, two soldiers interviewing the Palestinian owner of an olive grove that had been set on fire were maced by masked settlers from the outpost of Adei Ad who reportedly yelled while attacking the Palestinian, "how could you bring him to our home?" On Oct. 17, two days after Defense Minister Benny Gantz demanded that the military act decisively against settler violence, two of the Adei Ad attackers were arrested. But on the same day settlers again attacked farmers and homes in Burin as the army stood byand watched.
Will Biden remain mute as plan to further throttle East Jerusalem gathers momentum?
On Oct. 13, the Jerusalem municipality’s planning committee gave its approval to the expropriation of more land around East Jerusalem and the building of 1,257 housing units in Givat Hamatos that would sever Palestinian Beit Safafa from the city. Some 470 new units were allocated for the settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev. The 3,500 units proposed for the vital E-1 area – that would cut the West Bank in two – is up for discussion next week. There has to date been no public comment from the Biden administration.
Sheikh Jarrah families facing eviction offered a poisoned chalice
The Israeli High Court has proposed giving three Sheikh Jarrah households ‘protected families’ status for two generations, enabling them to stay in their homes. In return, they would have to pay rent to Nahalat Shimon, the US-based settler organization that is behind the effort to get them expelled, effectively recognizing its ownership of the property.
Water Fact
On October 12, Israeli settlers installed water pipelines on Palestinian-owned land in the Ein al-Sakout area of the northern Jordan Valley so they can plant on it and then claim it as their own. This is reportedly part of a water network being constructed on thousands of acres they intend to seize in the area. Meanwhile, the Israeli High Court is considering a petitionfrom 20 Palestinian owners of 247 acres in the northern Jordan Valley that had been declared a ‘closed military zone’ in 1969, asking for that designation to be rescinded. The owners have been barred access to their land, while Israel has declined to evict the settlers who moved onto it and have it under well-watered cultivation.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine