Between October 1 and November 10, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 167 settler attacks related to olive harvesting that resulted in loss of life or property, a number that locals note is significantly lower.
OCHA also reported that the number of affected communities, to 87, has doubled since 2023, mainly due to Expansion of settler outposts and infrastructure In the new part of the occupied West Bank.
Mustafa Badaha, 48, owns a small house in this olive grove across from Deir Ammar in Othmans.
In July, another settler’s post was set up south of Mostafa’s property. Since then, Mustafa has filmed settlers breaking fences, damaging property and stealing farm equipment.
Settlers from this checkpoint began attacking Ain Ayyub, a Bedouin community of 130 people south of the village, and eventually drove them out. According to military orderswhich made the area a “closed military zone”.
According to Deir Ammar mayor Ali Abu al-Qaq Badaha, 65, settlers have been attacking villagers trying to reach their farms in eastern and southern Deir Ammar for years.
This year, he added, villagers have been completely cut off and now settlers backed by Israeli soldiers have begun attacking villagers in the western part of the village, where Mustafa’s property is located.
After terrorizing the villagers of Deir Ammar, the settlers of this outpost tried to release their cows to graze in the village desert west of the village.
Israeli settlers also steal from farms, the mayor said, taking used olives, tarps and plastic sheets for harvesting.
“This year, wherever you go to harvest olives, you will find settlers,” Izzat said. “And they attack you.”
According to Kai Jack, field coordinator for the Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) organization, this is a pattern of how settlers stop harvesting, which accompanies Palestinian farmers as a protective presence.
“Often, we are first seen by the settlers, who can then be seen on their phones, and within minutes, the army appears,” Jack said.
“It’s obvious they’re working together.”
Jack, along with about 50 other solidarity activists from RHR and Standing Together, went with some Deir Ammar villagers on October 16 to pick olives near Mustafa’s property, in the west.
Five minutes after arriving and starting to pick up, two female Israeli soldiers arrived, telling the group that the area was a closed military zone and that they had to leave.
The soldiers had no official orders, so the olive picking continued.
Fifteen minutes later, more Israelis arrived – some in military uniform, some masked and some partially in military fatigues, “with no clear distinction between settlers and soldiers”, Jack said.
A closed military zone order was soon delivered, and some armed settlers started chasing the villagers, throwing stones at them, giving the soldiers time to stop them.
In the grove, settlers attacked families with clubs and rifles, injuring Youssef Dar al-Musa, who spoke to Al Jazeera days later in his family compound.