DISRUPTING PEACE: Jewish settlers (occupiers) scuffle with rights activists during a harvest of olives near the Kyriat Arba Jewish settlement in Hebron on Friday. (Reuters)

RAMALLAH: Violent clashes erupted in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday when militant Jewish settlers (occupiers) attacked a group of Palestinian farmers and left-wing Israeli activists during an olive harvest.

Rabbis for Human Rights claimed that occupiers from the Hazon David illegal settlement outpost, headed by the extremist settler Itamar Bin-Gvir, attacked the farmers who were being escorted by its volunteers.

Israeli police and soldiers grappled with the violent occupiers. “This is just the beginning of the olive harvest which will be going on for the next two months,” said the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Arik Ascherman. He said activists were going to 40 Palestinian villages to protect olive growers and uphold their right to work the land, and harvest. They would act “as human shields” if necessary.

A settler woman screamed “Murderer, murderer” at the rabbi, and occupiers angrily shouted down any activist trying to explain their aims to TV reporters.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinian protesters at Nilin, near Ramallah, the scene of frequent clashes. Youths with slingshots fired rocks at the soldiers and flag-waving Israeli settlers on the opposite hillside. Palestinians say settler harassment often turns to encroachment and eventually seizure of more land in the name of settler “security.” “There are those who say all the land of Israel belongs only to the Jewish people,” Ascherman said. “Everybody knows these are Palestinian-owned trees. It’s unfortunate that some people filled with mistaken religious fervor are choosing to insult, be violent and try to steal the olives.” The Jewish militants say they want a secure route from the settlement through the olive grove, to a cave regarded as a Jewish holy site.

“The settlers would like to make a path ... as part of their effort to create facts on the ground,” Ascherman said. “They’ve been trying to create this outpost here to take more and more Palestinian land.” Rabbis For Human Rights said in a statement that delegations also joined Palestinians for the olive harvest near Nablus, “where there is a long history of the army preventing agricultural work.”

“In several locations olives have already been stolen in recent weeks, and this year's harvest will be all the more difficult because of the recent wave of settler violence,” the group said.

— With input from agencies