Palestinian farmers face 21 attacks by Israeli forces, settlers in single day, commission says

The Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) has documented 21 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinian farmers across six governorates in a span of 12 hours on Friday, Wafa reported. The commission said that the attacks, between 6am and 6pm, included shootings, burning and cutting down of olive trees, theft of crops, and denying farmers access to their lands or forcing them to leave at gunpoint, as well as causing injuries to several farmers. The CWRC said that escalating attacks on the olive harvest season were no longer limited to disrupting harvesting activities, but had come to directly target Palestinians' ability to remain on and cultivate their lands through a systematic pattern of violence, military intimidation, crop theft, tree destruction, and restrictions on access to agricultural land, all an integral part of Israel’s systematic policy of forced expulsion and settler-colonialism. The commission said that the coordination between settler attacks and the intervention of Israeli forces to protect the assailants or prevent farmers from accessing their lands demonstrated that these practices were not isolated incidents, but interconnected tools for seizing land and undermining the foundations of Palestinian agricultural life. It called on the international community to take concrete measures to halt the attacks and ensure protection for Palestinian farmers. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said the attacks included shootings and theft of crops. (AFP)