Jewish settlers today attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting their olive crops in the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, injuring two, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Walid Assaf, head of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, told WAFA that Jewish settlers brutally attacked Palestinian farmers who, supported by dozens of volunteers, finally managed to reach their lands in Burqa, after being denied access for years.

Assaf added that the settlers, from the illegal Megron settlement, were protected by Israeli soldiers when they attacked the farmers, injuring two of them.

This olive harvest has seen a rise in israeli attacks against Palestinians including stealing & burning crops, assaulting & terrorising farmers https://t.co/1xJfSgDXvB

— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) October 13, 2020

The farmers, along with the volunteers, confronted the attackers and were able to fend them off.

Rights organizations have documented a sharp rise in Jewish settlers’ attacks against Palestinian farmers harvesting their olive trees or stealing their crops and of soldiers banning farmers from reaching their land in areas close to the illegal settlements or located beyond Israel’s apartheid barrier.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

“Jewish settler violence should not be analyzed separately from the violence meted out by the Israeli army, but seen within the larger context of the violent Zionist ideology that governs Israeli society entirely,” wrote Palestinian author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud.

Jewish #Settlers Steal #Olive Crops, Cut Dozens of Trees beyond #Apartheid Wall https://t.co/aveSA47laB via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/ho31qXOVlL

— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) October 12, 2020

“Settler violence has long since become part of Palestinians’ daily life under occupation,” according to the Human Rights Group B’tselem. “Israeli security forces enable these actions, which result in Palestinian casualties – injuries and fatalities – as well as damage to land and property. In some cases, they even serve as an armed escort, or even join in the attacks”.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)