Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH — Jewish settlers Saturday attacked Palestinian farmers near the West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian official said. Jamal Al-Deek, the head of the Kafr Al-Deek village's council, said that a group of settlers from the Jewish settlement of Peduel attacked the farmers in groves located to the west of the village. Al-Deek said that the settlers set fire to some olive trees in the Gharis Qaswal area and stole the olive crops. He added that the farmers clashed with the group of settlers. No injuries on both sides were reported. The official said the olive trees are owned by Ya'qoub Omar and Aziz Omar families. He called on the Palestinian Authority, local and international human rights organization to protect the Palestinian farmers from settlers' attacks while harvesting their olive crops. The olive picking season, one of the seminal events in the Palestinian agricultural calendar, began on mid October when people all over the West Bank started harvesting their annual and main crop. The olive picking near the Jewish settlements has developed over the past years into a regular confrontation between Palestinian farmers and settlers who have settled on their lands. The Israeli human rights organization, Yesh Din (There is Law), said that the Israeli police in West Bank failed to prosecute cases of vandalism against Palestinian fields in the West Bank.
