The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday morning prevented Palestinian farmers in Azzun town east of Qalqilya from heading to their fields in a nearby area to harvest olives.
Local activist Hasan Shabita said that security guards from the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Shomron escorted by soldiers forced dozens of local farmers to leave the area.
Shabita told Quds Press that the soldiers claimed there was no prior coordination for their access to their olive groves and ordered them to come back later after the end of the Jewish holidays.
During the olive harvest season the farmers in the West Bank are either denied access by the army to their lands to pick olives or attacked by extremist Jewish settlers under military protection.
Throughout the year Palestinian olive trees are also exposed to repeated acts of sabotage and arson attacks by Jewish settlers in different West Bank areas.
