Israeli settlers attack Palestinian olive farmers as Nablus siege continues

Israeli settlers on Wednesday attacked Palestinians and foreign volunteers in the West Bank, while Israeli forces arrested 25 people in the occupied Palestinian territory and continued a siege of the city of Nablus for the ninth day running.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that settlers stabbed a foreign volunteer and broke her leg in the village of Kisan east of Bethlehem while she was helping a farmer harvest olives in the area.

A number of other volunteers who were helping with the harvest – both foreign and Palestinian -were attacked by the settlers, who uprooted 300 olive saplings belonging to farmer Ibrahim Abayyat.

They also sprayed olive trees with chemical pesticide, WAFA reported.

Settlers uproot 300 olive seedlings and spray trees with chemical pesticides after attacks on Palestinian farmers & solidarity activists east of Bethlehem. pic.twitter.com/66Strz98j6

— Mohammad Hureini (@MohammadHuraini) October 19, 2022

The village of Kisan has many illegal Israeli settlements nearby and settlers regularly carry out attacks on local Palestinians and their olive farms.

Foreign and Palestinian volunteers from the Faza’a group aid farmers throughout the West Bank by helping them with the harvest in order to protect them against settler attacks.

Settlers also attacked olive farmers in the village of Jamaeen south of Nablus, according to WAFA, forcing them to leave their lands.

On Tuesday settlers attacked olive farmers in Hebron, Ramallah, and in the Wadi Salem area north of Tulkarm in the northwest of the occupied West Bank.

In Nablus, an Israeli siege continued for the ninth day running. The siege has been imposed ever since the death of an Israeli soldier in the city last week.

The director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, Omar Hashem, told WAFA that the city of over 150,000 people had seen serious declines in productivity and trade as a result, with people being prevented from entering or leaving Nablus to engage in trade and commerce.

Israeli forces also detained a young man in the town of Bayta south of Nablus, while the Palestinian Red Crescent said that one of their medical officers was also detained south of the city.

Ten more Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces in Jerusalem and four more in Hebron.