West Bank facing ‘most dangerous olive season ever,’ UN-linked experts warn
Rapporteurs say Palestinian farmers face intimidation, restricted access to lands, attacks by armed settlers and security forces; IDF says it works to provide security for harvesters
GENEVA, Switzerland — Palestinian farmers in the West Bank are facing “the most dangerous olive season ever,” experts affiliated with the United Nations said Wednesday, urging settlers and soldiers not to interfere with the harvest and recommending a “foreign presence” to act as a buffer between the two sides.
The twelve experts, who are mandated by the Human Rights Council but do not speak for the UN, included at least one who has publicly accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians and who has faced mounting antisemitism allegations.
In a statement, the independent experts said Palestinian farmers were facing intimidation, restriction of access to lands, severe harassment and attacks by armed Israeli settlers and security forces.
“In 2023, the harvest was marred by a sharp increase in movement restrictions and violence by Israeli forces and settlers,” read the statement.
Last year, it said, “Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, faced the highest level of Israeli settler violence.”
Settlers had assaulted Palestinians, set fire to or damaged their crops, stolen sheep and blocked them from getting to their land, water and grazing areas, the statement added.
“Last year, Israel also seized more Palestinian land than in any year in the past 30 years,” the statement continued, adding that the situation was “expected to worsen.”
In a statement issued earlier this week, the Israeli military said: “The IDF and the Civil Administration are working in order to allow the residents of the region to harvest olives on the land under their authority in security, and alongside this, are working [to take] all necessary steps with the goal of protecting the security of Israeli citizens and settlements in parallel to the carrying out of the harvest.
“Against the background of the war, the [security] forces are conducting increased risk management and [making] security adjustments in the field, which include coordination and close protection by the security forces, especially in the harvest areas near the Israeli settlements, roads, and the centers of friction in general.”
‘Challenges, threats, harassment’
Olive harvests are central to Palestinian life and culture, the signatories argued.
“Restricting olive harvests, destroying orchards and banning access to water sources is an attempt by Israel to expand its illegal settlements,” they said, adding that Palestinian farmers were facing “enormous challenges, threats and harassment” in accessing their olive trees.
In 2023, more than 9,600 hectares (24,000 acres) of olive-cultivated land across the West Bank was not harvested due to restrictions imposed by Israel, they said.
That had meant the loss of 1,200 metric tons of olive oil, worth $10 million, they added.
They urged Israeli forces to refrain from interfering with this year’s olive harvest, and “concentrate their efforts on withdrawing the occupation and dismantling the colonies.”
The signatories said they would “continue to call for protection, including through a foreign presence acting as a buffer between the Palestinians and their aggressors, and to protect Palestinian farmers and their families.”
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, was among the signatories.
Albanese is a vocal critic of Israel on social media, frequently accusing it of genocide against Palestinians while appearing to sympathize with terror groups. She has previously said that the “Jewish lobby” was in control of the United States, but walked back the comment in response to a query from The Times of Israel in 2022.
The other signatories were Cecilia M. Bailliet, a UN independent expert on human rights; the five members of the UN Working Group on the rights of peasants; and five other special rapporteurs on the rights to food, safe drinking water, sanitation and adequate housing, and the rights of displaced people.
Violence has soared in the West Bank after October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel from Gaza to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Since then, troops have arrested some 5,250 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,050 affiliated with Hamas, and carried more than 70 airstrikes across the territory using drones, attack helicopters and fighter jets.
According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 716 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank during that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 41 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with gunmen in the West Bank.
