Why have settler pogroms surged during olive harvest season in West Bank?

What the report says

The European Union, France and Belgium condemned a settler attack on diplomats and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, as Al Jazeera reported a broader surge in Israeli settler violence during the Palestinian olive harvest. The incident took place near the village of Taybeh, where masked settlers reportedly surrounded vehicles carrying foreign diplomats, Catholic representatives and local officials, damaged a Belgian consular vehicle and assaulted French mayor Bernard Baudoux. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said Belgian, French and Polish diplomats were among those targeted.

Al Jazeera said the attack came amid weeks of escalating assaults on Palestinian farmers, journalists and residents during harvest season. The outlet reported injuries to Palestinians in several West Bank areas, including Ma’in near Hebron, Deir Ammar near Ramallah, Kafr Malek and Deir Jarir, alongside damage to olive trees, farm property and vehicles. In some cases, Palestinian farmers were reportedly forced off their land while Israeli forces arrested landowners or pickers. The article said settlers acted in several locations under conditions of limited restraint or protection from Israeli forces.

Western governments have issued statements of condemnation, but critics quoted by Al Jazeera argued that words alone are not enough. They said the EU and other governments should press Israel for accountability and sanctions, rather than only criticizing the attacks. The reporting frames the violence as part of a longer-running pattern connected to settlement expansion, impunity and the contested status of the occupied West Bank.