Settlers Assault a Citizen in Rafat and the Army Prevents Farmers from Harvesting Olives in Al-Zawiya

Salfit - Afaq News - Citizen Ismail Mousa Abu Asbah was injured with bruises and wounds today, Saturday, as a result of an assault by settlers who severely beat him while he was in his land picking olives in the village of Rafat west of Salfit, while Israeli occupation forces prevented farmers from continuing to pick olives in the town of Zawiya.

Citizens reported that a group of settlers attacked Abu Asbah while he was picking olives in his land and assaulted him, resulting in bruises and wounds, and he was transferred to a medical center for treatment.

The same source added that the settlers seized a quantity of olives that he had picked before leaving the area.

In Rafat, occupation forces stormed the village at dawn today, raiding several citizens' homes and searching them, causing damage and destruction in some of them, before arresting Khaled Sharif Ayash and his son Muhammad, and Ihab Shalaan Al-Dik, and taking them to an unknown location.

In the town of Zawiya, occupation forces forced farmers to leave their lands while they were picking olives in the "Al-Muntar" area, preventing them from continuing their work. Farmers said that the occupation forces expelled them from a land area of about 50 dunams, owned by the family of Jamal Muhammad Abdul Qader, during the olive picking season.

These assaults and measures come during the olive harvest season in the Salfit Governorate, amid farmers being subjected to settler attacks and restrictions imposed by the occupation forces, which hinder their access to their lands and threaten their ability to harvest their crops.