Israeli extremists attack Palestinian laborers during IDF-approved agricultural work
Palestinian workers, villagers targeted while plowing West Bank land in work coordinated with the IDF; 5 Palestinians, 2 Israelis injured in clashes
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Ultra-nationalist Israeli extremists attacked Palestinian farmers and residents conducting agricultural work on Palestinian land in the South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank on Wednesday, injuring five Palestinians.
Settler activists claimed that two Israeli youths were also injured in the incident, accusing Palestinians and “left-wing anarchists” of attacking them while they were grazing sheep in the area.
The IDF said, however, that the incident took place on Palestinian land during agricultural work coordinated by Palestinian landowners with and approved by the military authorities.
The Palestinian landowners had sought to plow their land located between the settlement of Susya and the illegal settlement outpost of Mitzpe Yair, west of the Palestinian village of Qawawis.
Palestinian farmers frequently need to coordinate access to their land with the IDF, especially in cases where the land is close to a settlement or outpost, supposedly to protect the Palestinians from attacks by extremists settlers.
Coordination for the agricultural work scheduled for Wednesday was only approved after a year of legal wrangling, following a petition to the High Court of Justice filed by attorney Dr. Quamar Mishiriq-Assad of the Haqel human rights organization, who frequently represents Palestinian residents of the region in legal proceedings.
Israeli extremists vandalize a tractor belonging to Palestinian farmers during an attack against Palestinian laborers and villagers close to the village of Qawawis in the South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank, January 22, 2025. (Courtesy Haqel – In Defense of Human Rights)
But despite the presence of IDF soldiers on the land to ensure the coordinated agricultural work went ahead, Israeli extremists attacked the Palestinian laborers, and reportedly the military personnel at the scene.
The IDF stated that “violent friction occurred between Palestinians and Israeli citizens during land work that was pre-planned on Palestinian territory, close to Mitzpe Yair.”
The IDF said that the incident included “mutual rock throwing and the use of pepper spray,” and that when reports of the incident were made IDF and Border Police forces “hurried to the spot and dispersed the incident.”
The IDF said no arrests were made, although Mishiriq-Assad said that two Palestinians were detained by the police and held at the Kiryat Arba police station. They were released later on Wednesday night.
Video footage taken by Palestinian and civil rights activists shows Israelis, some with tzitzit, ritual fringes, vandalizing a tractor belonging to the Palestinian laborers.
Photos from the scene also show the laborers and village residents suffering from the effects of the pepper spray which was sprayed in their eyes.
According to Mishiriq-Assad and other civil rights activists, the Israeli assailants attacked the Palestinians with rocks and clubs, sprayed them with pepper spray, and punctured the tires of a tractor being used to plow the land.
Five of the Palestinians injured in the incident were taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment, one of whom was still in the hospital late Wednesday night.
Commander of the IDF’s Yehuda Territorial Brigade Col. Shahar Barkai was reportedly at the scene and cancelled the agricultural work due to the violence, Mishiriq-Assad said.
But the Israeli assailants then made their way to Qawawis itself, attacking residents on the village’s land and vandalizing property, she added.
During the attack, Palestinian workers and villagers threw rocks at the Israelis, in an effort to fight them off activists said, causing head injuries to two of them. According to a statement by settler activists one of the injured Israelis was taken to the hospital, although Palestinian activists said they did not see Israeli ambulances arrive at the scene.
According to settler activists, the settlers were attacked when they were grazing their sheep close to the Susiya settlement.
Qawawis has suffered from repeated attacks by extremist settlers in the region, and its residents were among a group of petitioners from small, rural Palestinian communities in the area who filed a motion to the High Court through the Haqel organization demanding the court order the police to protect them from settler violence and harassment.
Head of the South Hebron Hills regional council of local settlements Eliram Azoulai accused the Palestinians of attacking the settlers, and called for “left-wing anarchists” to be banned from the region.
The incident comes against the background of a series of severe violent attacks perpetrated by Israeli extremists against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. On Sunday night, extremists attacked three Palestinian villages in the central West Bank, setting fire to homes and vehicles in two of those locations. Two other Palestinians villages were attacked by extremists in the Qalqiliya region on Monday night.
Israeli authorities have been accused of turning a blind eye to claims of rampant settler violence, particularly since the start of the Gaza war, with many attributing the lack of response to the government’s far-right flank, including outgoing police minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a lawyer known for defending settlers accused of violent attacks. There have been few arrests and even fewer convictions, according to observers.
Israel’s failure to rein in settler violence led the Biden administration to begin issuing sanctions against violent extremists in the West Bank last year. That regime was ended Monday by US President Donald Trump, as part of a flurry of executive orders signed on his first day back in office.
