Israeli settlers attempt to disrupt the harvest of olive groves by Palestinian farmers in the West Bank town of Silwad, in October.Credit: Nasser Nasser/AP If in fact they are only a minority, a few dozen Jewish settlers who are destroying olive groves, wounding harvesters, torching homes, cars and mosques and driving communities from their homes, their output is impressive. They commit more than two attacks a day on average, by the military's calculations; more than eight a day in (…)

I had an interesting conversation in which I was told that my columns – which in my view are a sincere attempt to talk to readers – sound desperate, depressing, accusatory and above all unconstructive, unrealistic and hopeless. And how can you talk to someone when they're always being told that only they are wrong, guilty and must mend their ways. An Israeli soldier stands guard during a clash with Palestinian protesters who went out to pray on their land in Beit Lid, near Tulkarm, last (…)

This year's olive harvest will not exceed 10,000 tons – less than a tenth of the average over the past decade, according to the Palestinian Olive Council's estimate. Unlike in Israel, Palestinian olive farming relies almost entirely on rainfall Olives harvested in the West Bank village of Battir earlier this month. Credit: Moti Milrod This year's olive harvest in the West Bank is among the worst in living memory, hit by the climate crisis and Israeli settler violence. Some 100,000 (…)