Stones, live rounds and tear gas: settlers and soldiers turn West Bank olive harvest into a battlefield

BEITA, WEST BANK: The olive harvest — the economic lifeline and cultural anchor of thousands of Palestinian families — opened this year under live fire. On October 2, Israeli settlers and soldiers confronted Palestinians harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank town of Beita, south of Nablus, in what witnesses described as a coordinated assault on farmers, homes and journalists alike. About 50 masked settlers descended on the harvest in the morning, stoning houses and attacking a home, a Californian activist volunteering with the harvesters told Al Jazeera. Settlers fired live ammunition at Palestinians picking olives in the Jabal al-Arma area, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. At least one local farmer was wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on the harvesters. Reuters footage showed an Israeli soldier aiming his weapon as Palestinians and activists fled the groves, smoke billowing from tear gas. Soldiers rounded up the harvesters, sat them on the ground at gunpoint, and ordered the foreign activists to leave. "They sat them on the ground at gunpoint and forced us to leave," the activist said. The violence spread through the Nablus governorate. In Osarin, settlers fired tear gas at Palestinians and journalists, attacked homes, stoned vehicles and assaulted several villagers. In the Jabal Qamass area of Beita, Israeli forces detained journalists and assaulted them. Al Jazeera footage captured settlers smashing a Palestinian vehicle in Osarin and armed settlers attacking a Palestinian home in Beita. Northeast of Ramallah, settlers under the protection of Israeli forces attacked homes in Al-Mughayyir village and seized a vehicle, while occupation forces raided the village outskirts. WAFA reported three Palestinians wounded in settler attacks on olive harvesters across the Nablus governorate on Friday, with stun grenades and tear gas also used against farmers and solidarity activists. The attacks are part of a wider pogrom against Palestinians across the West Bank that Palestinian media say has intensified since February. Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, Israelis have killed 1,212 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 254 children, according to Palestinian authorities — more than a quarter of them by settlers. Thirty Palestinians have been killed by settlers since the start of 2026, more than in any year since 2022. Olives are among Palestine's oldest crops, harvested for millennia. This season, picking them requires running a gauntlet of masked men, live rounds and military orders to leave one's own land.