A-Sawiya, Nablus District: An armed settler scattered olives picked by families, and soldiers threatened them not to harvest the land

On Friday, 3 November 2023, at around 2:30 P.M., an armed settler arrived by car at an olive grove north of the village of a-Sawiya, where two families including about 10 children were harvesting olives. When he got out and drew near, the families fled. They then watched him, from afar, scattering the olives they picked on the ground. The families called the police, and after about 40 minutes, several soldiers arrived in a military jeep. They got out, shook hands with the settler and talked to him. The families shouted from a distance, asking the soldiers to let them come near to collect their belongings. After about 20 minutes, the soldiers allowed one person to approach. They informed him that harvesting olives in the area was prohibited and threatened to arrest the families if they found them again in their groves. Then one of the soldiers took the resident’s phone, took a selfie, and sent it to another phone. After the settler and the soldiers left, the families quickly gathered some sacks of olives that remained untouched and left without finishing the harvest.