The video shared in Israeli settler groups shows two men bashing an olive tree with long wooden sticks.
asserted
men → share → sticks
Smiling and congratulating one another, they try to knock the olives to the ground.
asserted
they → smile → ground
They call the result “Pure Olive Oil”.
asserted
They → call → result
But as Palestinian activist Bashar Qaryouti explained, the two men don’t own the land, the trees, or the olives.
asserted
men → explain → land
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They’re Israeli settlers who set up an illegal settlement outpost on private property in the village of Qaryut, in the northern occupied West Bank, and made their way into this olive grove, some 200 metres (656 feet) away from Palestinian homes.
“No one has come near here for about three years, thank God,” one of the two men in the video says in Hebrew.
asserted
one → love → Hebrew
Local Palestinians know the man by name, and he does little to hide.
asserted
he → know → little
The man is Avichai Suissa, an Israeli settler sanctioned by the European Union, United Kingdom – and previously by the United States – who runs a farm on the outpost.
asserted
who → sanction → outpost
It was established more than a year and a half ago, and videos like this help Suissa raise donations for it.
asserted
Suissa → establish → it
On his campaign page, he says the goal is to rebuild and expand the farm, which was once dismantled by the Israeli army, to prevent it from falling “into enemy hands”.
asserted
which → say → hands
“We’re gradually starting to work our way into the area,” Suissa said in the video.
asserted
Suissa → start → video
But the land belongs to Palestinians – residents of Qaryut – who have not been able to reach it since the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.
asserted
war → belong → October
“A few months ago, farmers tried to plough their land, but the army stopped them,” Qaryouti said.
asserted
Qaryouti → try → them
“After we complained, the army declared the area a closed military zone a few days ago, so settlers are going to other lands, to other olives to steal,” Qaryouti explained.
asserted
Qaryouti → complain → olives
Suissa and others are part of a growing movement of settlers who have intensified their campaign against the olive harvest.
asserted
who → grow → harvest
The campaign, part of a settler pogrom against Palestinians in the West Bank, has turned the olive harvest season in October into a source of fear and danger.
asserted
campaign → turn → fear
Many Palestinians in the occupied West Bank describe this year as the worst yet in terms of settler attacks, and the season has barely started.
asserted
season → occupy → attacks
On Wednesday, armed Israeli settlers on tractors raided lands between the villages of Ramin and Burqa, in the northern occupied West Bank.
asserted
settlers → raid → Bank
They opened fire on farmers heading to their trees.
asserted
They → open → trees
Ali Bazzari, a 44-year-old farmer, was killed.
asserted
Bazzari → kill → ?
His only “crime”, the family says, was trying to pick his olives.
asserted
family → try → olives
Witnesses say the Israeli army prevented ambulances from reaching the wounded.
asserted
army → say → wounded
Palestinians had to carry the injured through the mountains to hospitals.
asserted
Palestinians → have → hospitals
The Israeli Rights Group Yesh Din says it documented 109 incidents of violence directly related to the harvest in 75 Palestinian communities between September 27 and October 6, an average of 11 per day.
asserted
it → say → day
Longtime tradition
Israeli settlers are increasingly attempting to adopt the rituals of the olive harvest season, while pushing out the Palestinians who have kept those traditions for generations.
asserted
who → attempt → generations
Several new farms have been set up in the occupied West Bank.
asserted
farms → set → Bank
One shares videos of olives being pressed.
asserted
olives → share → videos
Others invite Israelis to “join in” the experience.
asserted
Others → invite → experience
Palestinians say the videos circulating show a disregard for the actual owners of the land taken by the settlers, and a clear attempt to appropriate the season, imitating its rituals and claiming them as their own.
asserted
videos → say → own
Those rituals – things like collective picking, singing, and shared meals on the farms – are rooted in a deep connection to the land.
asserted
rituals → share → land
The olive harvest season may be an exhausting time of the year for Palestinians, with its hard work and long hours in the sun, but it’s a rewarding one.
uncertain
it → ’ → sun
Olive farmers traditionally gather for family get-togethers, with neighbours and friends volunteering to help one another harvest the olives, in a cultural tradition known as “ouneh”.
asserted
one → gather → ouneh
The season has a light-hearted element, with debates about whose land produces the best oil, who should charge the most, and who knows how to pick the most olives and not drop any to the ground.
asserted
who → have → ground
Older generations pass down lessons from history, such as the best time to harvest and how to nurture the trees – an inherited knowledge of climate, agriculture and the land itself.
“They planted so that we can eat.
asserted
we → pass → climate
We plant so they [will] eat,” a well-known Arabic saying goes.
asserted
saying → plant → ?
It highlights the continuity of this inheritance, and the responsibility towards future generations.
asserted
It → highlight → generations
These trees, which are meant to be protected, nurtured and passed on, are being taken away – not only by settlers, but by soldiers, too.
asserted
which → mean → soldiers
Hazem Sanaf, 61, stood on a nearby hill in the village of Beit Rima and watched as Israeli bulldozers ploughed through his lands in late September, after he had received an Israeli military order.
asserted
he → stand → order
The bulldozers destroyed and uprooted more than 400 trees belonging to Hazem and his neighbour, some of them decades old, and his only source of income.
asserted
some → destroy → income
“They just want to take our olive trees from us,” he said, his eyes reflecting his pain.
asserted
eyes → want → pain
Several Israeli military orders to uproot olive trees have been handed out across the occupied West Bank.
asserted
orders → uproot → Bank
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
