RAMALLAH, October 22, 2026 (WAFA) — The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission documented 17 attacks by Israeli occupation forces and colonists against Palestinian farmers and their land during the olive harvest on Thursday, across six governorates in the occupied West Bank.

The attacks took place between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. in Hebron, Qalqilya, Nablus, Ramallah and al-Bireh, Jenin, and Salfit, and included assaults on farmers, denial of access to agricultural land, theft of olive crops and harvesting equipment, destruction and burning of trees, detentions, armed threats, and gunfire.

In the Hebron governorate, particularly in Masafer Yatta in the south, occupation forces detained a man and his son in the Wadi Ma'in area as they tried to reach their land to harvest olives. Colonists subsequently broke into the family's land and stole their olive crop.

In Khirbet Jawaya, Israeli occupation forces detained 11 activists from the Faz'a campaign and three farmers, transferring them to the occupation police station in Kiryat Arba. In the village of Birin, colonists raided agricultural land, stole olives, and damaged and broke trees. Others seized the olive harvest belonging to local families in the al-Rahniya area south of Yatta after forcing the farmers to leave their land.

In Shaab al-Batm, colonists attacked olive harvesters, throwing olives to the ground and trampling them.

In Qalqilya governorate, occupation forces raided the northern al-Wajh area of Kafr Qaddum and forced farmers to leave their land, preventing them from continuing agricultural work. In Imatin, colonists, under the protection of occupation forces, set olive trees ablaze in the al-Shubaat area while farmers were forced out of their fields and prevented from completing the harvest.

Occupation forces also detained farmer Yousef Juma and several of his workers in the al-Jabal area, while colonists attacked farmers in the al-Wadat area belonging to the village of Hajja in an attempt to drive them from their land.

In Jenin governorate, colonists attacked farmers in Khirbet al-Makhal, near Ya'bad, stealing 17 bags of olives and harvesting equipment, including electric motors, hoses, and agricultural mats. The colonists surrounded the farmers with their vehicles and forced them to abandon their crops and equipment.

Colonists also assaulted Fadi Abu Bakr while he was harvesting olives, requiring his transfer to hospital for treatment. In Bartaa, occupation forces prevented farmers from reaching their land, further disrupting agricultural activity and denying residents access to the harvest.

In Nablus governorate, colonists attacked farmers in Wadi al-Shami, between Asira al-Qibliya and Madama, and opened fire toward them. In al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, colonists, under the protection of occupation forces, raided agricultural land and threatened farmers at gunpoint, demanding they hand over their olive harvest. After the farmers refused, the colonists threw the crop to the ground and seized harvesting mats, ladders, and equipment.

Colonists, also under the protection of occupation forces, prevented residents of Yasid from harvesting olives and forced them to leave their land.

In Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, colonists pursued farmers in the lands of Attara and forced them to leave while harvesting. Colonists also cut down olive trees on land belonging to Burqa, while others released their livestock into olive groves in Kafr Malik, threatening damage to trees and crops.

In Salfit governorate, colonists attacked Palestinian farmers and foreign solidarity activists in Wadi Yasuf, also known as al-Wad al-Ahmar, near Jama'in. They pursued the group and forced them to leave the agricultural land, abandoning olives before the harvest could be completed.

The commission warned that the documented attacks extend beyond the immediate losses suffered by farmers and their crops, representing attempts to reshape Palestinians' relationship with their land through violence and threats. Farmers prevented from reaching their land, forced to leave before completing the harvest, or deprived of crops they have already collected face a dual assault on both their right to access their land and their ability to benefit economically from it.

It stressed that the theft of olives and harvesting equipment was particularly serious because it turned the disruption of agricultural work into the direct seizure of both the land's produce and the tools needed to cultivate it.

The commission also warned that burning and cutting down trees and releasing livestock into agricultural fields threaten future productivity, compounding the economic and social harm suffered by Palestinian families.

It said repeated attacks carried out under the protection of occupation forces, alongside the forces' role in preventing farmers from working and detaining them, demonstrated the combined impact of military restrictions and colonist violence on access to agricultural land.

The commission added that these practices form part of a broader effort by the settlement system to reduce the Palestinian presence in targeted areas and turn access to their own land from an inherent right into an activity fraught with danger and military coercion.

M.N