Under a blazing summer sun in the eastern plain of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians move urgently through golden wheat fields — not to celebrate the harvest, but to save it before illegal Israeli settlers get there first and burn it.
What was once a routine agricultural season in the occupied West Bank has become a race against time, as illegal Israeli settlers’ attacks on farmers and their land across the area grow more frequent and more violent.
Residents say they were forced this year to harvest the wheat and quickly move it from the fields into the town after repeated attacks by settlers who tried to burn the crops and prevent landowners from reaching them.
Sinjil and its lands are repeatedly attacked by illegal settlers in an attempt to occupy as much land as possible. The town has lost about 8,000 dunums, or 2,000 acres, of its 16,000 dunums of land, according to Sinjil municipality data.
The town is surrounded by illegal settlement outposts and a wire fence that isolates it from its surroundings, with all its entrances closed except for one that allows residents to move in and out.
'Our presence protects our land'
Anti-settlement activist Ayed Ghafri said farmers are working under exceptional conditions in Sinjil's eastern plain, a vital area that residents rely on to grow wheat and seasonal crops.
"The Palestinian farmer is now constantly threatened. Some crops have been vandalised and destroyed, and there have been several attempts to burn the wheat," he said.
"In the past period, farmers tried to work on their farms, but occupiers attacked them and prevented them from doing so," he added, referring to settlers.
"That is why we are here today to support the farmers and save the wheat crop, because we believe that leaving it in the fields means exposing it to new attacks and the destruction of a large part of it," he said.
"Presence on the land is the only way to protect it, so we make sure to remain there continuously to affirm its Palestinian identity and protect it," Ghafri said.
Cost of steadfastness
Farmers in the area usually plant hundreds of dunums of land with wheat, but this year's harvest is taking place amid growing fears of Israeli settler attacks.
Farmer Ashraf Alwan said about 300 dunums in the area are planted with wheat.
"We came last week to harvest the wheat, but occupiers attacked us under the protection of army forces and forced us to leave the place. Without the support and solidarity of the town's residents, we would not have been able to continue the work," he said.
"Today we returned to complete the harvest, but we were forced to completely change the way we work. Under normal conditions, we would gather the wheat and thresh it on the land," he added.
"Now we are forced to bring tractors and trucks to move it [wheat] to the centre of the town out of fear that occupiers will burn it or steal it," he said.
Alwan said the measures have greatly increased costs for farmers.
"The crop barely covers a small part of the costs of ploughing, planting, harvesting and threshing, but we are here because this is no longer about profit and loss. It is about steadfastness and holding on to the land," he said.
"Farmers will not leave their land despite the attacks. They will continue to work on it and remain on it," he added.
Farmer Mustafa Shabaneh said he came with several residents of the town to move the wheat from the fields out of fear that it would be stolen or burned.
"I own seven dunums planted with wheat, and occupiers tried more than once to burn the crop. One time, they set fire to the area, but young men from the town intervened and managed to drive them away," he said.
"We kept watching the area out of fear that occupiers would reach the crop, but they returned at night and brought a bulldozer and opened a road to reach the farmland. So we decided to move the wheat from here as quickly as possible so it would not be stolen or destroyed," he added.
More than harvest at stake
In a nearby field, farmer Ali Bashir watched as the crop was collected amid anxiety.
"Farmers are no longer able to work normally in this area. Even shepherds are afraid to reach the grazing areas because of occupier attacks," he said.
"If occupiers come, they may attack you, steal your sheep or prevent you from reaching your land. People here fear for their crops because there have been previous cases of crops being burned and farmers targeted," he added.
"We are supposed to thresh the wheat here on the land, but we are moving it quickly because of fear. This process costs us extra money for transport, harvesting and threshing, but we are forced to do it to preserve the crop," Bashir said.
"What is happening is not just targeting the wheat crop, but an attempt to push Palestinians to leave their land and seize it. That is why farmers insist on staying and working on it despite all the difficulties," he added.
On June 10, Amnesty International accused Israel of leading and sponsoring a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying the arming of thousands of illegal settlers has contributed to the escalation of such attacks.
"It is implementing the settler movement's religious nationalist agenda. It has accelerated settlement expansion and land grabs, increased financial and logistical support to settlements, and it has armed settlers, thereby enabling a brutal state-sanctioned campaign of settler violence and of forced displacement of Palestinians," the organisation said.
Various areas of the occupied West Bank have seen a sharp escalation in illegal Israeli settler attacks, coinciding with ongoing Israeli attacks since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
Since then, Israel's raids in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have killed more than 1,170 Palestinians, wounded about 12,666 others, led to the arrest of about 23,000 people and displaced around 33,000.
