Palestinian colonization and wall Resistance Commission : (333) attacks carried out by the occupation and its settlers against olive pickers in the West Bank

The Palestinian colonization and Wall and  Resistance commission said   that  the Israeli occupation forces and its settlers have carried out 333 attacks against Palestinian olive pickers in the West Bank since the start of the season early last month.

Wafa Agency quoted the commission   as saying in a statement on Wednesday : The occupation forces carried out 139 attacks, concentrated in Bethlehem, with 40 attacks, followed by Nablus, 36, and Salfit, 21. The remaining 42 attacks were distributed in different areas of the West Bank, while settlers carried out 194 attacks, concentrated in Nablus, with 74 followed by Salfit 33 and Hebron 27.

The Commission explained that a Palestinian was killed by settlers’ bullets while picking olives in the village of Al-Sawiya in Nablus, while it was recorded that farmers were subjected to 40 shooting attacks from the occupation forces and settlers, 55 physical attacks and intimidation, 31 operations preventing access to fields and farms, 38 expulsions from the fields, and 29 operations Theft of crops.

The commission added   126 attacks on lands planted with olives, including 37 cutting, crushing, and bulldozing operations that led to the destruction of a total of 3,852 olive trees concentrated in the cities of Nablus, Hebron, and Salfit.

The Commission indicated that the occupation forces and settlers prevented the Palestinians this season from reaching an area of 500,000 dunums of their lands, in addition to the 200,000 dunums that the occupation surrounded with settlements and 300,000 dunums isolated behind the apartheid wall.

The Commission indicated that the current olive season, which coincided with the occupation’s comprehensive aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, was the most difficult and dangerous in recent decades due to the siege imposed by the occupation on the cities and towns of the West Bank.

The Commission pointed out that these attacks fall within the occupation’s plans aimed at undermining  the Palestinians’ loyalty  to their land, or seizing and destroying it, leading to attacking their sources of livelihood.

It  explained  that the occupation’s terrorism is escalating and forming  a great danger to the lives of the Palestinians, and the failure of the international community to stop it is unacceptable.

Rawaa Ghanam