Settlers set fire to Palestinian villages and disrupt olive harvest

Israeli settlers today attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank, setting fire to cars and trees, beating residents, and disrupting the olive harvest, according to local officials and the Red Crescent.

According to these sources, attacks have been reported in at least eight villages in the north of the occupied territory, where most of the olive groves are located; it is also reported that a foreign journalist was beaten during the attacks. Dozens of thousands of Palestinian families depend on the sale of olives, the sources add.

Sources and human rights groups state that settler violence against Palestinians has sharply increased this year, especially ahead of the elections in Israel on October 27. Residents and these groups claim that the far-right government and security forces are not doing enough to stop the settlers.

The text also states that this violence is increasingly being described as “ethnic cleansing,” and that this view is shared by the government of the United Kingdom, which believes that Israel is ignoring events in the West Bank.