Israeli settlers continue progrom amid olive harvest in occupied West Bank

Masked settlers have attacked Palestinians and set fire to olive trees in the occupied West Bank, as Israeli pogroms in the territory continue.

Approximately 80 masked settlers armed with clubs charged at Palestinians in the village of Abu Falah as they picked fruit. The harvest, which provides an economic lifeline in the territory, has become a regular target of Israelis from illegal settlements, who have stepped up violence amid encouragement from the government for the expansion of settlements.

As the settlers confronted them, some using slingshots, the Palestinians responded by throwing rocks. Israeli ⁠military jeeps sped into the area, but the attack continued, and the soldiers fired tear gas in the direction of the Palestinians.

More settlers armed with machineguns then arrived, Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who was on the ground, told Al Jazeera.

The sound of live gunfire could be heard in the area, and a photographer saw at least one armed settler fire a gun, the Reuters news agency reported.

Describing violence in the West Bank as being “at or near an all-time high right now”, Nathaniel said everyone ran when the settlers began firing, at which point Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine fell to the ground.

“We saw that there was a journalist … on the ground [with] people beating her, clubbing her, robbing her, pulling her up, beating her again and kicking her,” he said.

Levine later said she “probably wouldn’t even be here” had it not been for her helmet and flak jacket.

The attack extends the increasingly frequent pogroms carried out by settlers as Israel’s government pushes to expand its illegal settlements on Palestinian land.

Last month, Amnesty International said Israel had signed at least 15 land confiscation orders covering approximately 200 dunams (20 hectares) of Palestinian land in Jenin, in the northern West Bank. The rights group said it appeared Israel intended to connect two planned settlements in the area.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), an independent conflict-monitoring organisation, said recently that settler violence in the West Bank has reached record levels.

The growing violence and Israel’s expansionist policies have come under intense scrutiny in recent months, with allies including the UK and France announcing sanctions targeting the purchase of goods from illegal settlements.

The policy change marks a dramatic shift in stance by Western countries, which had previously refrained from going beyond verbal criticism of Israel’s actions.