Government Minister Moayad Shaaban, head of the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission, revealed that the Israeli army and paramilitary colonizers have carried out 407 attacks against olive harvesters since the beginning of the season in the first week of last month, in the occupied West Bank.
The attacks included physical assaults, resulting in the killing of a man and a woman in Nablus and Jenin, respectively, as well as campaigns of abductions, access prevention, and intimidation.
Shaaban explained that 120 attacks were carried out by the Israeli occupation army, 242 by paramilitary colonizers, and 45 joint attacks by both parties.
Most of the attacks were concentrated in Nablus (160 cases), followed by Salfit (58 cases) and Hebron (54 cases).
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He added that this olive harvest season has seen an unprecedented escalation compared to previous years, with attacks increasing from 333 in the 2023 season to 407 this year, while the 2022 season recorded a total of 108 attacks.
Shaaban noted that this escalation comes amid official government policies supporting the colonizers, such as granting them immunity, arming militias, and closing agricultural fields through military orders, which included 100 closure orders.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that the occupying power [Israel] is forbidden from transferring any part of its civilian population onto the land on which it occupies [Palestine].
