Israeli settlers are blocking, assaulting, and robbing Palestinian olive harvesters. For some 100,000 families in the West Bank who rely on the harvest for income, this season may decide whether the olive harvest survives at all.
Israel is detaining international observers for one simple reason: to prevent us from reporting on its ethnic cleansing project in Palestine.
Settler attacks in the West Bank are ongoing with the enthusiastic approval of the Israeli army, as Palestinians are barred from accessing their own land, and their olive groves, for the fourth year in a row.
From my uncle’s exasperated sighs over olive groves we can no longer reach, to the iron gates the Israeli army has erected at the edge of my village, there is one word we use to cope: ‘aadi’, or, “normal” in Arabic. But this reality is anything but.
The Israeli army has bulldozed over 1.6 million olive trees in Gaza since the beginning of the genocide in 2023, threatening the livelihood and heritage of olive farming communities, and the survival of a centuries-old Palestinian cultural tradition.
The olive harvest in Gaza is at risk, but the people of the land refuse to give up.
Journalists Rafaela Cortez and Ricardo Esteves Ribeiro embedded with Palestinians during the 2025 West Bank olive harvest. They witnessed terrible violence and oppression, including the killing of a 13-year-old boy, but also inspiring resistance.
Since the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has intensified its operations against Palestinians in the West Bank, conducting military raids in the north and increasing settler attacks on Palestinians harvesting olive groves.
Israel uprooted 10,000 olive trees in al-Mughayyir during a three-day siege of the West Bank Palestinian village. The Israeli army stated that uprooting the trees was intended to “deter” village residents and make them “pay a heavy price.”
October is around the corner, which means the olive harvest in Palestine will soon be in full swing. But rather than preparing for a time of joy, celebration, and community, Palestinians are gearing up once again to fight for their lives and their land.