Child, four women among Palestinians injured in West Bank pogroms | Israel-Palestine conflict News
Several Palestinians were injured, and farmers were arrested by Israeli forces during a series of violent incidents involving Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that on Saturday, six individuals, including four women and a child, were injured in Ma’in village, located in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, when settlers attacked local residents.
In the town of Deir Ammar, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces opened fire on farmers who were picking olives, forcing them to abandon their land, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Additionally, two Palestinians were shot and injured by settlers in the same area, while in Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, Israeli forces fired upon a civilian vehicle.
In a separate incident, Israeli settlers raided a farm in Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, killing approximately 20 sheep, according to local Mayor Najeh Rustum. He also noted that Israeli forces had conducted a raid on the village the previous night, during which they fired tear gas canisters that ignited a fire in a house, resulting in material damage.
Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh reported that settlers destroyed olive trees in the Beit Furik plain, east of Nablus, while Israeli forces arrested landowners and olive pickers. In Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, settlers, under army protection, reportedly fired live ammunition at farmers to deter them from completing the harvest and forced them off the land. An international activist’s vehicle was damaged during the incident, and stones were thrown at a farmer’s vehicle.
In Burqa, near Ramallah, Israeli forces and settlers obstructed farmers from picking olives, with additional reports of settlers attacking farmers in the Wadi al-Sha’er area, southeast of Salfit. Odeh characterized the wave of violence as part of a broader campaign, noting that settlers have become increasingly bold, even promoting their activities on social media. She highlighted that there have been 300 documented attacks since the start of October, severely impacting the olive harvest season for many Palestinian farmers. Odeh indicated that threats come from both soldiers and settlers, as military forces often intervene to protect settlers while attacking Palestinians defending their land.
The violence has drawn attention following a religious edict from Rabbi Dov Lior, a prominent figure associated with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and a leading authority among the Hilltop Youth, a religious Zionist group advocating for the seizure of Palestinian land. The edict states that Jews are permitted to harvest olives in the Holy Land, encouraging them to publicly assert their ownership of the land.
Odeh criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for minimizing the severity of these pogroms and for a lack of effective measures to address the violence. She remarked that while the issue is debated among politicians, no action is taken against the settlers, who are known to authorities. This inaction, she suggested, is politically motivated as it can secure votes ahead of the upcoming elections on October 27.
