Israel
West Bank settlers set cars ablaze in olive harvest season violence
This comes amid increased tensions between Jewish settlers and Palestinians during the October and November harvest
October 19, 2025 10:41
This comes amid increased tensions between Jewish settlers and Palestinians during the October and November harvest
October 19, 2025 10:41Settlers in the West Bank are reported to have set fire to several vehicles this morning in a series of violent attacks triggered by the olive harvesting season.
Palestinian media outlets reported that the incident, which involved a group of settlers, took place in Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah. The group are said to have broken into a vehicle repair yard owned by a local resident and set the vehicles ablaze. It is reported that the fires have caused severe damage.
This comes as tensions run high during October and November due to the ongoing dispute over the olive trees in the region.
Also reported in Palestinian media, in Rujeib, east of Nablus, settlers from the nearby Itamar settlement allegedlly assaulted olive pickers and tried to prevent them from harvesting.
احتراق مركبة بعد هجوم المستوطنين على المزارعين في ترمسعيا برام الله. pic.twitter.com/0nTELBphIP
— قناة عودة الفضائية (@AwdehTV) October 19, 2025
Olives make up a large part of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank. In the West Bank, there are over ten million olive trees on around 86,000 hectares of land and they make up nearly half of the total agricultural area. Between 80,000 and 100,000 families are said to rely on olives and olive oil for income.
However, there has long been a dispute over who owns the land where the olive trees are, leading to frequent violence between settlers and Palestinians, especially during the yearly harvest.
The reported attack, which is yet to be confirmed by the IDF, comes a week after violence erupted in Wadi Hajj Issa, near the northern town of Aqraba, as reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
And in a separate incident last week, during a harvest in Beita in Nablus, settlers were filmed standing near the IDF while the army fired tear gas at a group of Palestinian olive harvesters.
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