A significant escalation of settler violence in the occupied West Bank has resulted in the systematic destruction of Palestinian agricultural assets, according to multiple local sources. On Monday, Israeli settlers from the Susya settlement conducted a coordinated assault on farmlands south of Hebron, specifically targeting the Khirbet Khallat al-Homs area southeast of Massafer Yatta.
The attack involved the deliberate uprooting of approximately 850 olive and grape trees using bulldozers, alongside the vandalization of critical agricultural infrastructure. The targeted destruction specifically affected properties belonging to the Obeid al-Masri family, with reports indicating damage to 500 grapevines and 350 olive trees that constituted their primary livelihood.
According to the Bedouin rights organization Al-Baydar, this incident represents part of a persistent pattern of violations in the Khallat al-Homs area, where settlers have repeatedly appropriated Palestinian land for grazing livestock. The organization emphasized that these attacks directly threaten agricultural sustainability and economic stability for local farmers.
This event coincides with a documented surge in settler violence across multiple West Bank regions since October 2023. Recent days have witnessed parallel attacks reported in Hebron, Nablus, Jordan Valley, Jerusalem, and Jericho. In Burqa village northwest of Nablus, settlers incendiarized an agricultural tractor and defaced residential properties with racist graffiti. Simultaneously, settlers excavated land near Khirbet al-Deir in the Jordan Valley to access natural springs, while establishing new unauthorized outposts near Mikhmas northeast of Jerusalem.
International legal frameworks, particularly the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, explicitly classify settlement construction in occupied territories as both illegal and constituting war crimes. Despite this clear legal standing, the Israeli government continues to authorize thousands of new settler homes annually. Unauthorized outposts constructed without governmental approval are additionally proliferating with minimal regulatory intervention.
Ameer Dawood of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission characterized the recent violence as ‘alarming and unprecedented in both scale and intensity,’ noting a consistent pattern of escalation over the past two years that fundamentally undermines Palestinian agricultural communities.