October is the month of olive harvest in Palestine. Throughout the month, settlers harassed Palestinians and human rights activists who came to help harvest the olives. The military backed the settlers by either not preventing the rioters from coming, or even collaborating with them and hurt the Palestinians.
Settlers uprooted olive trees, stole olives from the trees, robbed sacks of olives, violently beat Palestinians on their land, attacked human rights activists and smashed activists' vehicles windshields.
The military prevented Palestinians from reaching their land, or allowed access only for a short period of time and prevented activists' access even when it was coordinated with the military ahead of time. On the other hand, the military allowed the settlers to raid Palestinians' lands during active harvest to harass, disturb and injure. When clashes arose, stun grenades and tear gas were thrown at the Palestinians. Not a single settler was arrested in response to these violent riots.
One of the worst attacks is the attack on Dr. Hagar Gefen: Hagar, a 71-year-old woman who came to help with the harvest was attacked by settlers, needed hospitalization and is now facing a long recovery process. Two other women were injured during the incident. You can read Hagar's story in her own words in this post.
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