Description

Photos:
Jaber Barakat Abu Fekheideh being treated for critical wounds in a Ramallah hospital after being attacked by Israeli settlers. Published by Maan News

One of the Palestinians wounded in the alleged settler attack west of Ramallah, November 5, 2016. Credit: Iyad Hadad, B'Tselem Published by Haaretz
______

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Three Palestinians were wounded, one critically, after being attacked by Israeli settlers on Saturday in the village of al-Janiya in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah.

According to locals, Israeli settlers “assaulted” and threw rocks at members of the Abu Fekheideh family while they were picking olives on their land in the al-Batha area of the village, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Talmon.

Jaber Barakat Abu Fekheideh was critically injured in the head, while his brother Hasan and cousin Muhammad were reported as mildly wounded, though it remained unclear exactly what type of wounds they sustained.
All three were taken to the Ramallah Hospital for treatment.

An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Saturday’s events were the latest in a series of attacks on Palestinian farmers during this year’s olive harvest season, which began early last month, and has seen several incidents of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian farmers and their lands in the occupied territory.

Last week, Israeli settlers cut down 18 olive trees belonging to a Palestinian family in the village of Nahhalin, west of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank.

Just one day prior, Israeli forces expelled several Palestinian farmers from their lands, and detained one while they were picking olives near Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

Earlier last month, dozens of extremist Israeli settlers harassed Palestinian families who were picking olives on their private lands west of Nablus city.

Palestinian officials told Ma'an at the time that settlers from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Gilad “attacked” different families from the villages of Jit and Farata in the Qalqiliya district, and Sarra in the Nablus district -- all located just south of the outpost.

One week prior to that incident, a number of settlers from the illegal Eli settlement attacked Sahir Mousa and his family while they were picking olives on their land in the outskirts of the Nablus-area village of Qaryut, which is just a few kilometers away from the settlement.

"They arrived carrying hatchets and other sharp tools and forced the family to return home and completely damaged their car," officials said regarding that attack.

On Oct. 4, a group of Israeli settlers’ children escorted by Israeli forces harassed a Palestinian family harvesting olives in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and violent acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces, who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, along with Israeli rights group B’Tselem, have previously condemned Israeli authorities for failing to protect Palestinians from settlers violence or investigate attacks, particularly during olive harvest season, when incidents of attacks on harvesters and their olive groves have been a near daily occurrence in past years.
_______

Palestinians Harvesting Olives Reportedly Attacked by Settlers Near Ramallah

Israeli authorities are investigating allegations that twenty assailants attacked four Palestinians west of Ramallah.

by Jack Khoury and Yotam Berger for Haaretz

Four Palestinians were treated at a hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, reportedly after they were attacked by Jewish settlers near the village of Al-Janieh, west of Ramallah. 

One of the victims treated at the Ramallah hospital, all members of the Abu Fahida family, was described as in serious condition with a head wound. Medical staff at the hospital were reportedly told by one victim that they were  harvesting olives in their olive grove near the settlement of Talmon when a group of settlers attacked them with stones and clubs.

A relative of one of the victims told Haaretz that some 20 settlers were involved in the attack.

"We didn't see their faces," he said. "I was in the village when we heard screaming. We went down there and saw our people, one of whom was bleeding from the head. I called for help and the settlers fled."

The Israel Police and the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories said that an investigation has been launched in the incident.
 
The annual olive harvest in the West Bank is in full swing and thousands of Palestinian farmers are working in the groves to bring in the harvest. In recent years, attacks on Palestinians by settlers in the course of the harvest have become more prevalent amid claims that the Israeli army and police are not adequately protecting the Palestinians. Palestinian police cannot help protect them in areas until Israeli security control.