DUBAI: The UN has warned that escalating Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters in the West Bank are contributing to the displacement of communities and the loss of people’s land.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the violence, coupled with Israeli restrictions on access to agricultural land, was threatening the livelihoods of thousands of Palestinian families.
“This is yet another tool of displacement and dispossession, adding to the suffering of communities whose rights are under attack on a daily basis,” he said.
Olive farming is a vital source of income for an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families in the West Bank, where restrictions and repeated settler attacks have threatened harvests.
The warning came as the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported 409 attacks by Israeli settlers and forces on olive farmers, their land, trees and agricultural equipment between Oct. 1 and 21.
Of those, 317 were attributed to settlers and 92 to Israeli forces, according to the commission.
“Repeated attacks on fields and access routes mean that farmers face the risk of assault at every stage of their work, from traveling to their land and harvesting olives to transporting their crops and returning home,” the commission said.
The UN Human Rights Office said settlers had used live ammunition, set fire to agricultural land, destroyed centuries-old olive trees and stolen harvested olives and farming equipment, sometimes with the participation or protection of Israeli forces.
Thousands of Palestinian farmers have also been prevented from reaching their groves by Israeli movement restrictions that have tightened significantly over the past three years.
“Palestinians often say that olive trees are symbolic of their existence as a group and their connection to the land,” Sunghay said.
The UN has called on governments and international donors to take urgent measures to protect Palestinian communities, including increasing diplomatic presence in areas at high risk of settler violence, ensuring safe access to farmland and supporting legal assistance and livelihoods.
The latest warnings follow a series of attacks during the harvest, including the assault on Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine on Oct. 16 and an attack on European diplomats visiting Palestinian olive harvesters near Ramallah the following day.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 20,000 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings have been damaged in settler attacks since the beginning of 2026, undermining agricultural production and future income.