MONITORING (SW) – Zuraya Hadad, an Israeli peace activist had been helping Palestinian farmers pick their olives when she was assaulted without provocation by Israeli soldiers, who’d accompanied settlers to the site.
“Even when we come to help, it doesn’t guarantee that the Palestinians can harvest their olives,” Zuraya told BBC as she recovers from her injuries at home.
“We try to raise awareness, but in the end it’s either the settlers steal the olives or cut the trees, or they remain unpicked and go to waste.”
Land is at the heart of the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians – who controls it and who has access to it.
For thousands of Palestinian families and villages, cultivating and harvesting olives is a big part of their economy.
But many say that, in recent times, access to trees on their land has been impeded, often violently by Israeli settlers.
Hundreds of trees – which can take years to reach fruit-bearing maturity – have been deliberately burned or cut down, says the UN.
More than 96,000 dunums (approximately 96 sq km; 37 sq miles) of olive groves in the West Bank also went uncultivated in 2023 because of Israeli restrictions on access for Palestinian farmers.
As of 5 November 2024, over 45,000 people (43,391 Palestinian and 1,706 Israeli) have been reported killed in the Israel–Hamas war. In Nov 2024, the UN published its analysis covering only victims verified from at least three independent sources over 6 months span between Nov 2023 and April 2024 found that 70% of Palestinian deaths in Gaza are women and children.
In neighbouring Lebanon, at least 35 more people were killed in Israeli attacks across, bringing the overall death toll since last year to 3,516, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
Israel continues its air campaign in Lebanon since late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets, an escalation in year-long cross-border warfare with the Lebanese group since the start of an offensive on the Gaza Strip. It launched a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes.
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