Summary

The Judea and Samaria District of the Israeli police continues its habit of deterring human rights activists from participating in “protective presence” activities in Ras Ein al-‘Uja. On Monday, two police officers arrived at the madafeh (hospitality tent) in the village looking for two activists from “Looking the Occupation in the Eye,” intending to take them for questioning at the police station without explanation, justification, or prior notice.

Meanwhile, the police’s approach to settler violence remains unchanged: Palestinian residents attacked in their villages are arrested, while the settlers who came from nearby outposts return home freely. This week, a member of a family attacked by settlers was detained for 24 hours and then released without charge.

As every week, the residents of the illegal outpost recently established near the village (known as “the burned houses”) continue to harass the villagers daily—speeding through village roads, honking, and shining lights into homes at night. In addition, minors are sent from the outposts with herds of sheep to invade village courtyards and homes on a daily basis. Activists from “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” continued their protective presence, striving to avoid physical confrontation—whose outcomes, if it occurred, are all too predictable.

Sunday – Two minors from the outpost entered the yard of the Abu Taleb family with a herd of sheep. Activists called the police in vain, allowing the minors to attack residents and activists with spitting and later with sticks. After dark, a group of about ten settlers and one settler woman moved toward the “burned houses.” Later, one of their vehicles stopped near the hospitality tent; the driver and passenger filmed the site and the activists, leaving only after hurling a stream of curses at them.

Monday – Early in the morning, police arrested one member of the family whose home had been attacked by settlers from the outpost. Later that day, masked minors approached the homes of the Salameh family. The detained villager, held overnight without explanation, was released.

Tuesday – Israeli and American volunteers participating in olive harvesting near the settlements of Yakir and Revava were attacked by settlers. Members of Revava’s security squad flew a drone at head level above the harvesters who came with “Rabbis for Human Rights.” At one point, the drone struck the hand of an Israeli woman, lightly injuring her before crashing. Armed members of the settlement’s security squad then arrived, threatened the harvesters, fired shot in the air to drive them away, collected the drone, and left.

Also on Tuesday, a resident of the village of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya, was hospitalized in intensive care after being attacked by settlers. They beat him, threw him into his vehicle, and set it on fire. He managed to escape the burning car but suffered a skull fracture, brain hemorrhage, six broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and injuries to his hands and legs.

Thursday – Minors from the outpost entered the Salameh family’s land in Ras Ein al-‘Uja with their herds, approaching local children. Police arrived and repeated their familiar refrain: “Settlers may enter any area of the village as long as they are not inside the residents’ homes.”

Friday – Several families from the community of Fasayil in the southern Jordan Valley left their homes after settlers began erecting a fence enclosing the village, in some places only ten meters from houses. Police and soldiers who were called by residents to stop the construction of the hundreds-of-meters-long fence took no action. The fence will restrict villagers’ movement and deny them access to their farmland and sources of livelihood. According to Palestinians, it will give settlers direct control over thousands of dunams of agricultural and grazing land.

Saturday – Settlers violently attacked Israeli activists and Palestinian farmers who came to harvest olives near the villages of Beita and Burin, close to Nablus. The injured were evacuated to hospital. Members of “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” and the Olive Harvest Coalition had come to Burin to help a local farmer. Around 11 a.m., about 15 masked settlers wearing white shirts attacked them with clubs and heavy stones. Eleven activists were injured, some evacuated by the Red Crescent for medical treatment.

October 2025—the olive harvest month—was the most violent in terms of settler attacks since records began, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).