In the olive-draped hills and towns of the occupied West Bank, the autumn of 2025 has brought not only the annual harvest but also a surge of violence that has left Palestinian farmers, families, and their centuries-old trees under relentless threat. The start of the olive harvest—an event that is typically a celebration of heritage and resilience—has instead become a season marked by attacks, destruction, and mounting international alarm.
According to reports from Haaretz, the escalation began in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attacks and Israel’s subsequent devastation of Gaza. This period ignited a lethal increase in settler violence across the West Bank. Over the two years since, Israeli forces have killed more than 68,000 Palestinians in Gaza, while more than 1,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in the West Bank. The violence has not only been deadly but also deeply disruptive to everyday life and livelihoods: new settler outposts have sprung up rapidly, displacing entire Palestinian communities—a process frequently facilitated by Israel’s army.
Photojournalists and activists have documented these confrontations firsthand. On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Israeli settlers attempted to disrupt the olive harvest in the West Bank town of Silwad, drawing the attention of both local and international observers. The olive harvest, which began in earnest this month, has been marred by frequent and persistent assaults. The UN Rights Office recorded 757 assaults by settlers that resulted in injury or property damage during just the first half of 2025.
The attacks are not limited to harassment. In August 2025, the Israeli military destroyed 10,000 olive trees during a three-day siege of the West Bank village of Al Mughayyir. Some of these trees were over a century old, a living testament to the deep roots of Palestinian culture and economy in the olive trade. Israeli Military Major General Avi Bluth defended the action, stating the uprooting was intended to deter attacks on settlers: “Every village should know that if they commit an attack, they will pay a heavy price.”
For Palestinians, olive farming is more than just agriculture—it is a way of life, a link to ancestors, and a symbol of sumud, the concept of steadfastness. Mohammed Abu al-Rabb, an olive farmer from Jablun near Jenin, told Middle East Eye, “It’s not just a tree, it’s our ancestors’ legacy, and their will is for us to protect it.” The olive sector is vital: half of the West Bank’s agricultural land is dedicated to olives, and around 100,000 families depend on the harvest for their income, including 15 percent of working women. In a good year, seasonal olive exports inject nearly $200 million into the Palestinian economy, according to the Palestinian Trade Centre.
Yet, the harvest has become increasingly perilous. In 2023, around 20 percent of olive crops went unharvested due to Israeli-imposed travel restrictions following October 7, costing Palestinian farmers an estimated $10 million, as reported by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. These restrictions often leave farmers with just days to work land that would normally take weeks to gather, while settler attacks—more than double the previous year’s total—have included arson, physical assaults, and even murder. Among the victims was 59-year-old Hanan Abu Salami, shot dead by Israeli soldiers while tending her family’s olive grove outside Jenin on October 17, 2024. A UN Rights Council inquest found she posed no threat and was shot without warning.
On the ground, the violence is both systematic and deeply personal. On October 29, 2025, Israeli settlers set fire to two cars and spray-painted racist slogans in the West Bank town of Atara, north of Ramallah. The vehicles, belonging to Ayoub Abu Arjila and his wife, were destroyed, and the flames spread to nearby homes before the settlers retreated to their illegal outpost. That same day, Israeli forces assaulted three Palestinian men at the Deir Sharaf checkpoint west of Nablus, sending them to the hospital. In Huwara, south of Nablus, shop owners were ordered at gunpoint to close their businesses, while several homes were raided. The town has been under Israeli siege since February 2023 and faces frequent settler attacks.
Jenin, too, remains a flashpoint. Israeli forces bulldozed al-Ghabz Street near the refugee camp and razed the Tal’at al-Ghanem area. Just a day earlier, residents of 15 apartments in the al-Taher building were ordered to evacuate as their homes were declared a closed military zone.
Beyond the fields and towns, the conflict has reached into the prisons. On October 29, 2025, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) reported that Israel continues to bar the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian detainees, citing “security concerns.” The PPS warned that this move conceals the abuse of detainees and noted a surge in mistreatment, particularly since the last prisoner exchange deal. The organization also highlighted preliminary Knesset approvals for legislation that would allow the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
The devastation is not limited to the West Bank. In Gaza, Israel’s two-year campaign has destroyed 98.5 percent of agricultural land and decimated 1.1 million olive trees, according to an August 2025 assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The same report found that 86 percent of Gaza’s agricultural wells had been destroyed by July 2025, and the UN-backed global hunger monitor declared that over half a million people in Gaza are facing famine. For many families, 2025 marks the third missed olive harvest, with some resorting to burning dying olive trees for fuel amid chronic shortages.
International response has been swift and critical. In May 2025, Amnesty International condemned Israel’s razing of Khuza’a in Gaza, including its agricultural land. “The destruction of some of Gaza’s most fertile agricultural land, including land essential to the production of food, must be seen in the context of Israel’s use of starvation as a method of warfare,” Amnesty stated. Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in Palestine, warned on October 21, 2025, “Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency, with the acquiescence, support, and in many cases participation, of Israeli security forces – and always with impunity.” He underscored the cultural and economic centrality of olives for Palestinians, calling the escalating assault on the harvest “one of many, many Israeli aggressions designed to sever connection, to annex the land, to dispossess Palestinians, and facilitate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.”
As the violence continues, the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved forward with plans to annex the West Bank, passing a preliminary bill in October 2025. Despite international condemnation, both official settlements and unauthorized outposts—illegal under international law—continue to expand, with approximately 700,000 settlers now living in 150 settlements and 200 outposts across the West Bank.
For Palestinians, the olive tree’s deep roots symbolize not only their history but also their determination to endure. As the harvest presses on amid mounting violence and displacement, the world watches—some in horror, others in hope that the tide might yet turn toward justice and peace.
