UN Human Rights Office Calls Israel to Ensure Access of Palestinians to their Lands and Protection from Settler Violence during Upcoming Olive Harvest – Press Release

25 September 2024

As the olive harvest approaches in the occupied West Bank, the UN Human Rights Office reiterates its urgent call for the protection of Palestinian farmers and their right to safely access their land. Last year, Israeli authorities intensified existing access and movement restrictions, which, along with a sharp increase in settler violence, destroyed livelihoods and communities – this must not be allowed again.

The olive harvest is both a primary source of livelihood for thousands of families in the occupied West Bank and an integral part of Palestinian heritage, and attacks on the harvest threaten the Palestinians’ way of life and contribute to the coercive environment that is forcing thousands of families to flee.

The inability and unwillingness of Israeli authorities to stop repeated, yearly violence against Palestinians is a reminder of Israel’s failure to uphold its obligations as the occupying power. With the escalation in state and settler violence in the West Bank since 7 October, alongside expanded movement and access restrictions, Palestinians now face the likelihood of violent attacks and unprecedented hurdles in accessing their olive groves as the harvest season approaches.

During the 2023 season, in the immediate aftermath of 7 October, Israeli authorities refused to grant the “coordination” needed for Palestinians to reach their lands located near Israeli settlements and kept closed the system of Israeli-imposed agricultural gates, blocking the access of Palestinians from some 150 communities to their olive groves in the so-called seam zone. According to UN data, as a result, more than 96.000 dunums of olive-cultivated lands across the West Bank remained unharvested, causing the estimated loss of 1,200 metric tons of olive oil and 10 million USD damage. Restricted access to the high-yielding 2024 crop would have a further devastating economic impact and further deteriorate grove health for future harvests.

The combination of State policies and settler violence in the past eleven months has prevented Palestinians from access to tens of thousands of dunums of farmland and pasture, particularly in Area C, which has contributed to the destruction of the local economy and the displacement of thousands of Palestinian herders and farmers, in conditions that may amount to forcible transfer. This process is ongoing, as Palestinians are forced from their land, which is seized by Israel in violation of international law, including through unprecedented levels of declaration of Palestinian land as “state land” so far in 2024, while in parallel, Israeli authorities continue to provide such land, confiscated in violation of international law, to further settlement expansion.

In its Advisory Opinion last July, the ICJ stated that Israeli settlements and the régime associated with them violate international law. According to the Court, Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It is also under the obligation to provide full reparation for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all persons concerned, including by returning the land, dismantling the parts of the wall constructed by Israel that are situated on occupied Palestinian territory, as well as allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their original place of residence. The transfer by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies constitutes a war crime.