{"id":305886,"date":"2025-10-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=305886"},"modified":"2025-10-24T05:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T04:50:06","slug":"un-rights-office-sounds-alarm-over-skyrocketing-israeli-settler-violence-during-olive-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/10\/un-rights-office-sounds-alarm-over-skyrocketing-israeli-settler-violence-during-olive-harvest\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Rights Office Sounds Alarm over \u2018Skyrocketing\u2019 Israeli Settler Violence During Olive Harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Olives and olive oil production in the West Bank are a cornerstone of Palestinian culture. \u00a9 UNRWA<\/p><\/div>\n

The UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has warned<\/a> of an alarming rise in violence and restrictions by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinian farmers, as the crucial olive harvest season gets underway.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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21 Oct 2025 – <\/em>Ajith Sunghay said today that \u201csettler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency, with the acquiescence, support, and in many cases participation, of Israeli security forces<\/strong> \u2013 and always with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tweet URL<\/a><\/div>\n
https:\/\/x.com\/OHCHR_Palestine<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the first half of 2025 alone, there were 757 settler attacks<\/strong> causing casualties or property damage \u2014 a 13 per cent increase<\/strong> compared with the same period last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinian men, women, children, and foreign solidarity activists,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Harvests lost, land destroyed<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to OHCHR<\/a> data, 96,000 dunums (around 9,600 hectares) of olive groves were left unharvested in 2023, leading to over $10 million in losses<\/strong> for Palestinian farmers \u2014 a trend that continued into 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cDirect land destruction is also escalating<\/strong>,\u201d Sunghay said. \u201cSettlers have burnt groves, chain-sawed olive trees, and destroyed homes and agricultural infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He underscored the broader toll of the occupation, noting that since October 2023, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed<\/strong> by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank, while thousands have been displaced by attacks, movement restrictions and home demolitions.<\/p>\n

\u2018Livelihood and lineage\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe olive here is never just a tree,\u201d Sunghay reflected. \u201cIt is livelihood and lineage, resilience and economy, and a historic vein connecting Palestinians to the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that up to 100,000 families<\/strong> depend on the olive harvest for their livelihoods, describing it as \u201cthe economic backbone of rural Palestinian communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

OHCHR, he said, is working with partners to strengthen monitoring, provide legal aid and maintain a protective presence for farmers and landowners.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sunghay warned that the surge in settler violence is occurring \u201cagainst the backdrop of an accelerated Israeli land grab<\/strong>,\u201d with officials \u201copenly declaring their intent to annex the whole of the West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reiterated that Israel \u201chas a legal obligation to end the occupation and reverse the annexation,\u201d and urged member states to \u201cexercise maximum pressure to protect civilians, halt and reverse these policies, and ensure accountability for decades of violations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yes,\u201d he concluded, \u201cit begins with the olives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original – news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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JOIN THE BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS CAMPAIGN TO PROTEST THE ISRAELI BARBARIC GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS IN GAZA.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH <\/em><\/strong>729, WHICH INDICATES THAT THEY ARE PRODUCED IN ISRAEL. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR HUMAN JUSTICE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 Oct 2025 – The UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has warned of an alarming rise in violence and restrictions by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinian farmers, as the crucial olive harvest season gets underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":109474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[865,2416,3120,427,3115,124,1025],"class_list":["post-305886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-genocide","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-jewish-settlers","tag-palestine","tag-unhrc","tag-united-nations","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305886"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305892,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305886\/revisions\/305892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}