Israeli settler violence has "skyrocketed” in the West Bank as extremists once again disrupt the economically crucial olive harvest in Palestinian communities, a United Nations official said on Tuesday.
Just two weeks into this year’s olive harvest, armed Israeli settlers have burned olive groves, used a chain saw on trees, destroyed homes and agricultural infrastructure, and attacked Palestinian men, women and children, Ajith Sunghay, the Head of the U.N.’s Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters from Ramallah.
"It is not an understatement to say that the harvest season is the economic backbone of rural Palestinian communities,” Sunghay said, explaining that as many as 100,000 families rely on the olive harvest for their livelihood. "While the olive harvest season has always witnessed tensions and violence and restrictions, the escalation is truly alarming.”
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