Why have settler pogroms surged during olive harvest season in West Bank?

The European Union has condemned Israeli settler attacks on EU diplomats and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, amid unprecedented settler pogroms during the Palestinian olive harvest.

“We expect full accountability as well as effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists,” the EU said in a statement on Sunday.

“We urge Israel to fully abide by International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, and to cease the expansion of settlements.”

Israeli settler attacks during this year’s olive harvest season have already surpassed 2025 totals, with critics pointing out that mere condemnations by the EU and member states without holding Israel to account will not deter settler pogroms, which are granted impunity by the Israeli authorities.

Saturday’s incident is the latest in weeks of intensifying pogroms against local communities in the occupied West Bank by Israelis from illegal settlements who are largely protected – or at least unrestricted – by Israeli forces.

On Friday, Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinian olive pickers and a veteran photojournalist.

Why have settler pogroms surged during olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank?

Here’s what we know:

What has been the response?

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the country’s consul general to the Palestinians, as well as French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives, were also among those attacked.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on the Israeli government to arrest the settlers who assaulted Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries, and said on X it must “urgently put an end to this criminal violence and ensure the safety of the civilian population”.

The assault has prompted an Israeli police investigation, as settler pogroms disrupt the Palestinian harvest across the occupied territory.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is “very disturbed” by the images of the settler attack on American photojournalist Heidi Levine, 64, who works as a freelance photojournalist for The Washington Post, in the occupied West Bank on Friday.

Speaking to reporters at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Rubio said he was yet to receive an official briefing on Friday’s incident, but what he saw “didn’t look good”.

He urged Israel to “crack down” on the violence and said President Donald Trump does not want to see “friction” or “a crisis” in the West Bank.

Ahmed Najar, a Palestinian political analyst and playwright, told Al Jazeera that condemnation without consequences is not accountability.

“Western governments continue to arm, fund and diplomatically protect Israel while treating settler attacks as isolated acts by a few extremists. But this violence flourishes within a wider system of occupation, settlement expansion and impunity,” he said.

“The West cannot claim to oppose settler violence while continuing to support the state and policies that enable it,” he added.

Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, former EU representative to the occupied West Bank and Gaza, had a similar view.

“⁠The lame protests issued by the European chancelleries in response to these terrorist acts of Israeli settlers are pathetic since they are not followed up by concrete punitive measures,” he said.

“This is especially disgraceful considering that this settler terrorism has been going on for years with full impunity. At the last Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on October 12, the EU ministers were still unable to decide on sanctioning the violent settlers and/or its enablers, the annexationist apartheid government of PM Netanyahu,” he added.

What happened on Saturday?

On Saturday, Israeli settlers attacked vehicles belonging to diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland near the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank.

At least seven masked settlers surrounded the vehicles, demanded identification documents, smashed the window of a vehicle belonging to the Belgian consulate and assaulted the French mayor, according to witnesses and media reports.

The 78-year-old told the Reuters news agency that he was “a bit shaken” by the event.

“I had my mayor’s sash on, with the blue, white and red colours, which clearly represent the symbol of France, in an attempt to protect the people around me. Well, that was not enough, and I was attacked, violently attacked, protected by the people who were there to try and limit things,” Baudoux said.

He said the settlers threw him to the ground, after which his group rushed back into their vehicles to leave.

“I didn’t think something like this could happen to me coming here as a pacifist to celebrate a ‘twinning’ — friendship between two cities,” he added.

However, refusing to be terrified by the attack, Baudoux said, “I think we need to go back to the olive plantations because they have great significance for the Palestinian people.”

Former EU diplomat Burgsdorff told Al Jazeera these attacks are not new, saying he witnessed “thugs attacking peaceful Palestinian farmers and citizens” during his visits to the occupied Palestinian territory between January 2020 and July 2023.

“Once a settler mob even threw stones at us – but we were already in our vehicles. Since we couldn’t count on protection by Israeli police or military, we left the scene of confrontation as soon as possible,” he added.

Where else have settlers attacked olive pickers?

In recent weeks, Israeli settlers have intensified pogroms against Palestinians picking olives in the region.

Earlier on Saturday, settlers injured six Palestinians as Israeli forces arrested farmers during pogroms across the occupied West Bank.

Four women and a child were among the injured when Israeli settlers attacked residents in Ma’in village in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

In Deir Ammar town, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces opened fire on farmers picking olives, forcing them to leave their land, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Israeli settlers also injured two Palestinians as they opened fire in the area.

In the village of Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, settlers raided a farm at dawn and killed about 20 sheep, Mayor Najeh Rustum told Al Jazeera.

Reporting from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said settlers destroyed olive trees across the Beit Furik plain, east of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, while Israeli forces arrested landowners and olive pickers.

In Deir Jarir village, east of Ramallah, she said, settlers under army protection fired live ammunition at farmers in the al-Hariq area to prevent them from harvesting, forcing them off their land.

Settlers also smashed the vehicle of international activist Jonathan Budlak in the village and threw stones at a farmer’s vehicle.

On Friday, dozens of masked settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives, throwing stones, using slingshots and setting trees on fire.

Friday’s and Saturday’s attacks follow the killing of Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, during an assault on Palestinians picking olives near Burqa, northwest of Nablus, on October 7. Witnesses reported that settlers and Israeli soldiers attacked the harvesters.

Journalists documenting the violence have also been targeted.

Veteran freelance journalist Levine was attacked near Abu Falah on Friday. She fell to the ground during the attack before she was set upon, witnesses said.

Levine, who was taken to a hospital northeast of Ramallah after the attack, later told reporters that her attackers “just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times”.

Levine was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” on the front and back. Her cameras and phone were taken from her during the assault, The Washington Post reported.

On October 6, armed settlers beat Palestinian photographer for the AFP news agency Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58, with rifle butts near Aqraba, south of Nablus. He was taken to hospital with injuries to his head and torso, according to witnesses, relatives and colleagues.

Why have settler pogroms surged during olive harvest season?

The Israeli settler pogroms have been going on for many weeks and have increased during the ongoing olive harvest season.

Israeli rights group Yesh Din has documented 377 incidents of violence involving occupiers and soldiers in two weeks through October 10.

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “So far this year, nearly 200 settler attacks linked to the olive harvest have caused casualties or property damage. That is already more than the 185 incidents recorded during the entire 2025 season.”

But the attacks are not new. Every year, Israeli settlers and hardline groups use the olive harvest period to assert control over valuable agricultural lands, often blocking Palestinians from reaching their groves, stealing crops, or building illegal settlement outposts and roads on private Palestinian property.

The olive harvest is also a critical economic lifeline for roughly 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank. Intimidating, injuring, or barring farmers from picking their olives, as well as uprooting or burning thousands of olive trees, inflict serious financial damage and force families off their land.

“The olive harvest is not simply an agricultural season for Palestinians; it is a vital source of income and a powerful expression of their connection to the land. Settlers target this period because Palestinian families are gathered in exposed groves, often close to settlements and outposts,” Najar told Al Jazeera.

“By assaulting farmers, burning or uprooting trees and stealing crops, they are not merely disrupting a harvest – they are making it increasingly dangerous for Palestinians to reach and remain on their own land,” he said.

“The violence is also intended to deter international campaigners from accompanying Palestinian farmers, standing with them against settler violence and documenting the atrocities being committed … The objective is not only to dispossess Palestinians, but to ensure that their dispossession happens without witnesses,” he added.

According to Al Jazeera’s Odeh, this year, due to the upcoming elections, which are crucial for right-wing parties, Israeli settlers are more emboldened.

“In fact, they have received even a religious edict telling them that stealing the olive harvest was not just permissible; it was the right thing to do,” she said.

What has Israel said about the attacks?

The Israeli military has condemned Saturday’s attack on the EU diplomats and said it has opened an investigation into the incident. It said its soldiers were not present during the attack.

Settler attacks over the years have also occurred under the protection or passive stance of the Israeli army, which often declares Palestinian farming areas “closed military zones” or coordinates with settlers to restrict landowner access.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has appeared to question the reports of the attack on the Europeans, saying on X that they are “alleged” and require “compelling evidence”, despite acknowledging that published footage of the incident exists.

Al Jazeera’s Odeh noted that while the prime minister downplays violence, Israeli opposition figures are attacking Netanyahu, saying it undermines the standing of Israel.

“They vow to protect the illegal settlements while trying to curb settler violence,” she added.