MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) sent a letter on Sunday, November 2, to Defense Minister Israel Katz warning of escalating settler violence against Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank during the annual olive harvest. Cassif said the occupation army is complicit in the attacks, as soldiers often stand by, or even assist, armed settlers attacking Palestinians and volunteers in the West Bank.
Israeli settlers and occupation forces assaulting Palestinians as they try to harvest their olives in the Sa’ir area east of Hebron, October 23, 2025 (Photo: Mosab Shawer / Activestills)
In his letter, Cassif cited 54 documented cases of settler assaults, arson, and land seizures since the start of the harvest, and warned Katz that the Israeli far-right government could face international criminal liability under the Rome Statute if it continues to ignore the violence. Cassif urged immediate action to ensure Palestinian farmers’ access to their lands and to halt the “settler’s terror” spreading across the West Bank.
Between 1 and 27 October 2025, the UN documented 126 olive-harvest-related settler attacks against Palestinians resulting in casualties, property damage or both. Incidents entailed attacks on farmers inside or on their way to olive groves, theft of crops and harvesting equipment, and vandalism of olives and other trees and saplings.
This is compared with 110 attacks during the corresponding period in 2024, and up from a range of 30 to 46 attacks between 2020 and 2023. The geographic scope of attacks has also significantly increased, with 70 towns and villages witnessing olive-harvest-related attacks that resulted in casualties and/or property damage so far this year; this is nearly double the number of affected communities in 2023 and more than three times the number of communities affected during the same period in 2020. The damage incurred has also been the highest recorded over the past six years, with over 4,000 trees and saplings vandalized, more than double that recorded during the same period in 2024.
Despite the formal start of this year’s mechanism regulated by Israeli occupation authorities for Palestinians to access agricultural lands located in or near Israeli settlements and those isolated by the Barrier, access remains highly restrictive and inconsistently implemented. For example, on 22 October, nearly 50 Palestinian families from Awarta town, in Nablus governorate, obtained prior coordination with Israeli occupation authorities through the Palestinian District Coordination and Liaison Office (DCL) to access their olive groves for only two days, on 22 and 23 October. The land is located between Awarta and Yanun, in proximity to the Israeli settlements of Alon Moreh and Itamar.
Although Palestinians were granted two days of access, Israeli settlers, reportedly from nearby outposts, gathered at the main road gate leading to the area and blocked the passage of farmers. Israeli forces then redirected farmers to an alternative 15-kilometre detour. Only five families managed to reach their groves and harvest olives, while the rest were unable to do so due to the long route and fear of further settler harassment along the way.
The establishment of new settlement outposts has further undermined Palestinian farmers’ ability to reach their lands, including areas that were previously accessible without any coordination, including in Areas A and B. Already in December 2024, Peace Now and Kerem Navot, two Israeli organizations, reported that Israeli settlers living in shepherding outposts are estimated to control approximately 786,000 dunums of land, representing nearly 14 per cent of the West Bank’s total area. As a result, some communities in the West Bank have been altogether denied access to their agricultural land.
