palestinian olive harvest

Palestinians watch smoke rising after a vehicle is set on fire by Israeli settlers during an attack on the first day of the olive harvest in the West Bank village of Beita, October 10 2025. (Avishay Mohar/Activestills)

Settler terror devastates West Bank olive harvest

Israeli military restrictions and over 150 settler attacks in the past two weeks have prevented many Palestinians from harvesting this year’s crop.

By Oren Ziv and Basel Adra October 24, 2025

Palestinians collect olives from a tree during the annual harvest season, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 21, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

For Gaza’s olive farmers, the war has left little to salvage

Facing bombardment and water shortages, Palestinian farmers are clinging on to a livelihood that has long symbolized and been a source of resilience.

By Taghreed Ali and Ibtisam Mahdi November 19, 2024

Israelis harvest olive trees belonging to Palestinian famers from the village of Al-Janiya, adjacent to the settler outpost of Zait Ra'anan, West Bank. (Yesh Din)

From whom is the IDF protecting Palestinian farmers?

An IDF video celebrates its efforts to protect Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest. But human rights groups have documented dozens of attacks in just the past couple of weeks. By Yali (Yael) Marom The Israeli military wants you to believe that it alone is responsible for ensuring that Palestinians can harvest their olive trees…

By Yali Marom October 25, 2017

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An Israeli soldier watches a Palestinian woman while she harvests olives in Salem village, near Nablus, West Bank, October 9, 2014.

PHOTOS: Palestinians watch harvest season disappear before their eyes

In the village of Salem, as elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinians are forced to harvest their olives according to the whims and restrictions of Israeli authorities. Photos and text by: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org As every year in October, Palestinian families in the West Bank head to their groves in order to begin the olive harvest…

By Activestills October 18, 2014

Israeli soldiers arrest an International Solidarity Movement volunteer for interfering in the attempted arrest of one of his colleagues who was filming confrontations between settlers, the Al Azzeh family which had just harvested their olives, and the military, October 22, 2012. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Photos: Three arrested as settlers, soldiers disrupt Hebron olive harvest

It was the first time Hashem Al Azzeh could harvest his olives in five years. Living directly next door to the Tel Rumeida settlement, which like all West Bank settlements is illegal under international law, he has faced years of harassment and violence from some of Israel’s most ideological settlers. But this year, having coordinated with…

By Activestills October 23, 2012

Palestinian arrested for tending to his own olive trees

According to the Palestine News Network, Israeli forces have arrested a Palestinian farmer along with his wife and sister for “trespassing” on land that the man holds deeds to The Palestine News Network (PNN) reports that Israeli police arrested Jamal Jaber Asaad, a 58-year-old Palestinian farmer, on Monday morning on trespassing charges. Asaad’s wife and sister…

By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat November 8, 2011