Palestinian farmers battle settler sabotage to save Hebron crops, livestock

What the report says

Palestinian farmers in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, are trying to keep working land that they say has come under repeated pressure from settlers and Israeli military restrictions, according to Al Jazeera. The report centers on Theeba al-Sabaa, 56, who spends much of her time guarding grapevines and farmland that once supported her family’s income. It also cites Anwar Sabarneh, whose vineyards are nearby and whose livestock have been kept indoors for months because of the risks around his property.

Al Jazeera reports that settlers have established outposts on nearby hills since mid-2024 and that farmers describe harassment including grazing livestock on cultivated fields, damaging crops and stealing sheep. The article says access to some land has been blocked, and that Palestinian farmers must navigate checkpoints, military gates and permit demands. Sabarneh said Israeli forces have asked for permits to work land he says he owns, while attempts to recover stolen animals have reportedly led to arrests and beatings.

The piece places these accounts in a broader pattern of escalation in the southern West Bank. It cites the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission as saying there were 11,074 attacks in the West Bank in the first half of 2026, including 3,488 by settlers. The report says the restrictions and violence have contributed to repeated losses of harvests and, in some cases, forced families to leave farmland. Al Jazeera frames women farmers as especially important in maintaining agricultural life when men are killed or detained.