Business as usual in the West Bank

[ionelv]

From JPost:

NGOs, lawmakers mobilize for West Bank olive harvest amid claims of state complicity

Amid violence against Palestinians during their olive harvest season, deemed one of the most violent in years, a mass solidarity harvest will take place on Friday in the West Bank, with Knesset members set to attend.

The solidarity harvest was initiated by NGOs Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) and Peace Now shortly after an attack on Palestinians and Israelis alike harvesting olives near the village of Burin.

MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi will attend, as well as several other public figures and hundreds of volunteers.

The focus of the solidarity harvest is to provide additional protection to Palestinian farmers against violence, and to create a united front against Jewish extremists perpetrating the attacks.

Record-breaking rates of settler violence

UN data claims that October 2025 was the most violent month of the harvest since 2006. The harvest began in mid-October, with more than 250 recorded attacks against Palestinians since the start of the season.

Activists from RHR have been pelted with stones, and a female rabbi from the organization was allegedly injured by a settler-operated drone that crashed into her last week.

Following the drone incident, live rounds of ammunition were fired in their direction, the organization claims.

RHR Executive Director Avi Dabush has sent urgent letters to both the prime minister and the defense minister but has been met with silence.

“What’s happening today in the West Bank is a test for Israeli society. When our army stands by, when the police arrest no attackers and ignore our appeals, we are witnessing the collapse of the rule of law – and Jewish terror has effectively become government policy,” Dabush said in a statement.

“There’s a direct line between this terror, the erosion of democracy, and the security abandonment within Israel itself. Anyone who thinks the violence will remain only in the West Bank is deluding themselves,” he said.

He added, “We will not give in. For over 20 years, we have stood alongside Palestinian farmers in the name of the most basic Jewish values: ‘Love the stranger,’ ‘Justice, justice shall you pursue.’

“The harvest is not only about olives; it’s a symbol of the fundamental right of people to live and work their land in dignity.”

Peace Now’s Executive Director Lior Amihai claimed in a statement that settler attacks are not only breaking records, but are backed and funded by the Israeli government.|

Instead of fighting terrorism and arresting the perpetrators, the government has turned the hilltop terrorists into its operational arm on the ground, paving the way for de facto annexation.

But Jewish terror will not intimidate us,” Amihai stated.

“This is a battle over Israel’s character and moral soul. This Friday, we will come in force to say loud and clear: We will not be silent in the face of settler terror! We will not allow dispossession, annexation, and the trampling of the rule of law!”