They have total impunity': West Bank settler violence surges after Gaza ceasefire

"Dozens of new incidents have occurred in recent days across much of the occupied territory as settlers step up a broader effort to intimidate and harm Palestinian communities. It's really bad at the moment. The settlers are operating with total impunity, said Aviv Tatarsky, an Israeli activist who has worked in the West Bank for decades. Early on Sunday, settlers vandalised cars on the outskirts of the town of Sinjil and raided farmland near the village of Mughayyir, according to local reports."

"The UN logged more than 260 attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or damage to property in the West Bank in October alone the highest monthly count since they began monitoring in 2006. Records kept by the Palestinian Farmers' Union (PFU) show incidents of violence against its members up fourfold, from three or four daily before the war in Gaza."

"Last week, settlers were reported to have assaulted agricultural workers and olive pickers in the town of Beit Duqqu, near Jerusalem, prevented Palestinians from plowing their land in al-Farisiyah in the northern Jordan valley, burned olive trees belonging to local Palestinians outside two villages near the city of Qalqilya and attacked farmers near Aqraba."

Violence across the occupied West Bank has surged as Palestinian farmers attempt to harvest olive trees amid coordinated harassment by armed Israeli settlers. Armed groups have vandalised vehicles, raided farmland, assaulted farmers, damaged crops and burned olive trees in multiple locations including Sinjil, Mughayyir, Beit Furik, Beit Lid, Beit Duqqu, al-Farisiyah, Qalqilya and Aqraba. The uptick in attacks follows a US-brokered deal that paused the Gaza war nearly six weeks earlier. The UN recorded over 260 attacks in October, the highest monthly total since 2006, and PFU data show a fourfold rise in daily incidents against farmers.

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