Olive harvest attacks pass 480 as settlers steal crops and burn trees

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission counted 482 attacks on the olive harvest by 25 October across nine governorates, WAFA reported. It documented 21 in 12 hours on Friday alone. Harvest was stolen in at least a dozen villages, including Sinjil, Silwad and Beit Iksa, Al Jazeera said.

Settlers burned dozens of trees in Burqa, and last Tuesday set fire to a memorial to residents killed there and to the home of Palestinian-American Jamal Bajes. A bulldozer uprooted hundreds of trees in Madama; soldiers cut dozens in Deir Qaddis for a settler road.

In Beit Iksa a farmer was pepper-sprayed and detained although his harvest had been coordinated with the Israeli Civil Administration. The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least four people were killed and more than 100 injured in the first weeks of the season, AP reported.