How Israeli settlers wearing keffiyehs are attacking West Bank olive groves

At first glance, it is an Instagram video like any other. There’s rousing music, sunshine, smiles, coffee and three people harvesting olives. But the video's caption situates these charming scenes in a different, much more violent reality: "That took us a good four hours. We are asking you to come and showcase the land of Israel and harvest olives.” 

This footage was captured in the occupied West Bank. David Kela, an illegal Israeli settlement, is identified as the scene's location in the post.

The olive harvest officially began on October 15, 2026 and lasts until the end of November. In recent years, however, this period has become synonymous with an uptick in violence towards Palestinians, carried out by the Israeli army and settlers. Because of this, many Palestinians began their harvest two weeks early this year to reduce the risk of violence. 

However, the violent reality hasn’t prevented some Israelis from taking to social media to present an image of a pleasant and convivial harvest, often with a message to social media users to come and join them. There are dozens of these posts on social media. 

Some settlements even have their own oil mills. Settler Elisha Yered shared a post inviting social media users to come and gather olives to make oil in Itamar, an illegal settlement, and Avihai, an illegal farm. In his caption, he calls on viewers to go and harvest olives "in the nearest orchard, located just behind the gate to your town” and calls on them to “reinforce the Jewish presence on our country’s land”, both nationalistic messages.

On October 15, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) counted nearly 200 attacks linked to the olive harvest that resulted in bodily injury or material damage affecting the harvest season. 

OCHA also confirmed that the number of attacks affecting the olive harvest carried out by settlers in the West Bank this year has already surpassed the 185 incidents recorded in 2025.

'They banned us from going to our own olive grove'

Omar (not his real name) lives in the Hebron Governorate in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army has blocked his access to his olive grove since June 16, 2026. 

On Tuesday, June 16, we discovered that a dozen Israeli settlers had come into our olive grove. I inherited this land from my father and my grandfather. 

They were hitting the olive trees with bats. 

We called the Israeli police, who came to the site, but they didn’t come close enough to make them leave. They just stayed on the main road. Then, the army came and the soldiers went towards the settlers and some left, but not all. 

The settlers who remained started to ransack the olive trees. They beat them with bats and specifically targeted the most beautiful trees. The settlers took some of the olives and then stamped on the rest. 

Then, they brought over about 200 sheep, led them into the olive orchard and let them graze all over. The settlers stayed there with their sheep from the morning to sunset. 

They banned us from going into our orchard, claiming that this land was now part of a military zone. We don’t know what to do.

Olives are an incredibly important source of income for tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank. According to OCHA, in 2019, more than 10 million olive trees were a source of primary or secondary income for between 80,000 and 100,000 families. In its report "The Elimination Project", the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem reported that, on average, the olive sector brought in $170 million per year (more than €151 million) to the economy of the occupied West Bank.

The various restrictions and violence around the 2025 harvest – including designating olive groves as military zones or national parks, acts of violence or intimidation, and military orders preventing Palestinians from harvesting their olives – resulted in the Palestinian economy losing more than $46 million in revenue, or nearly €40 million, according to OCHA. 

'The whole system supports settlers'

Yair Dvir is the spokesperson for B’Tselem. He highlighted the close links between settlers and the army as well as a system created to restrict Palestinian access to their land. 

Every year, for decades, we see an uptick in violence during this time of year. But each year, the violence continues to intensify. The violence perpetrated by settlers and soldiers leads to injuries or even deaths. 

The violence also includes theft carried out by settlers. There are a number of eyewitness accounts and videos showing settlers stealing olives directly from the trees or waiting for Palestinians to finish their harvest and then just taking their olives from them.

In many of the cases, we’ve found that the Israeli army is actively participating in these acts: they are there while it is happening and are letting the settlers attack and steal. Often, they even participate in the attacks, arresting Palestinians, firing on them and using tear gas.

One thing that we’ve observed recently – as well as throughout the years, though it is particularly striking now – is that we’ve seen more and more clearing of olive groves, carried out not just by settlers but also by the army.

'We saw settlers wearing keffiyeh come and attack us'

Mohammed (not his real name) is the president of an agricultural committee in a Palestinian village. He spoke to us about the role that olive trees play in Palestinian culture. 

Growing olives is a historic, cultural and religious act for us.

Most of the Palestinians in the West Bank have not been refugees. That means that there are people who have never been separated from their land, who have plots where they gather olives each year and produce their oil. However, suddenly, they are no longer able to do that. 

Culturally, the Palestinian keffiyeh (a traditional scarf) often features embroidery that represents olive branches. Women’s traditional dresses, or thobes, also have special patterns that represent olive trees. Olive oil is essential to the food we make. 

In the Quran, olive and fig trees – which have a symbiotic relationship and which, historically, were planted together in Palestine – are often jointly mentioned. Olive trees play an integral role in the Quran’s sacred texts. 

I don’t think it is possible to explain what these olive trees mean for us. It goes beyond symbolism. Grave stones of martyrs are inscribed with the words: “We die standing up, like Palestine’s olive trees.”

It’s revolting to see the settlers pretend to be locals and that their relationship with the olive tree is natural when it is them who have literally been destroying and cutting down olive trees for the past decade. 

We see our culture being stolen from us. Soon, they are going to try to steal the thobe (traditional garment), too. We even saw colonists wearing keffiyeh come to attack us."

The FRANCE 24 Observers team contacted the Israeli army, who said that in the case of “disturbances affecting the harvest”, they took the “necessary measures for prosecution or, if needed, to disperse those present, all while attempting to avoid any injury”. The army added: “Most instances of friction that occur in the areas where olive harvesting doesn’t require coordination [Editor’s note: Palestinian farmers must obtain so-called prior coordination permits to access land that has been blocked by the army] or where security forces are not present. Most coordinated harvests are taking place as planned.” 

OCHA reported that attacks linked to the olive harvest this year have so far resulted in the death of one person and more than 120 people injured. More than 2,500 olive trees or young plants have been damaged or destroyed. Since 2023, at least 100,000 olive trees have been destroyed, ripped out or burned in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.