Until 7 October 2023, Israeli authorities did not require Sinjil residents to coordinate access to most of their land, except for several hundred dunam (1 dunam = 0.1 hectares) located mostly north of the town, and near which an army base and the settlements surrounding the town were established.
During the 2023 olive harvest, farmers were denied access to their land, and in 2024, access was severely restricted. During the 2025 harvest season, farmers were denied access to some 5,000 dunam of village land, except for one day on which access was supposedly coordinated, but an hour after they arrived at their land, soldiers and settlers arrived and drove them out.
One of the farmers who was denied access to his land during the 2025 harvest was Husam ‘Ayidah. On 22 October 2025, after the Israeli DCO approved the arrival of Sinjil residents to their land north of the town to harvest olives, he discovered that about 120 of his olive trees had already been harvested, many of their branches had been broken, and the gate to his land had been stolen. He called over a soldier who was in the area, and he documented the damage. On 25 October 2025, ‘Ayidah went to his land again with laborers to harvest the remaining trees, but an armed settler who arrived at the site ordered him to leave and then called for soldiers, who drove him out on the pretext that there was no approval for harvesting that day. Later that day, a town resident saw settlers stealing water tanks from ‘Ayidah’s land.
On 31 October 2025, ‘Ayidah arrived with other farmers and solidarity activists to harvest in another area north of the town, and this time discovered that all the trees in this grove had been harvested. Some of the trees’ branches had been broken, and signs of sheep grazing were evident in the area. After about half an hour, soldiers and settlers arrived and ordered the farmers and activists to leave. After they left, soldiers were documented harvesting olives from ‘Ayidah’s trees and stealing them.
In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh, Husam ‘Ayidah, 71, a father of ten, said:
I am married and have ten children, all of them adults between the ages of 20 and 40. I live in the eastern part of the town of Sinjil, and in addition to Palestinian citizenship, I also have American citizenship. I have about 180 dunam of land in the northern and western parts of Sinjil’s land, and my plots are scattered over five areas there. In four of them, I mainly have olive groves: in the She’b a-Nimr area, 31 dunam, in the a-Qita’ area, by the road leading to Army Base 773, four dunam, in the a-Romani area, 20 dunam, and in the al-Mghrabat area, 81 dunam. In addition, in the Marj ‘Urzal area, I have four dunam of flat land with no olive trees. All the land is in areas defined in the Oslo Accords as Area C.
Other than half a dunam in the al-Mghrabat area, I was always able to reach all these plots without needing any sort of coordination.
About six to seven months ago, settlers paved a road to the outpost they established in the area north of Sinjil, and carried out earthworks on 38.5 dunam of my land. Most of this area is planted with olive trees, but they weren’t damaged.
In 2023, we did not go to these areas and plots at all. Last year, 2024, we got permission from the DCO to access this area for only two days. On the first day, a few hours after we arrived at our land, occupation soldiers arrived and drove us out, claiming there was a security incident nearby. They forced us to leave our agricultural tools in the field. Despite the difficulties, last year, we managed to access some of the plots we had received approval to harvest and produced about 40 jerrycans of olive oil.
This year, on Wednesday, 22 October 2025, the Sinjil Council informed us there was coordination for harvesting in the She’b a-Nimr area north of the village. When I arrived at the site, a few soldiers were there, and one of them said to me: “Go to your land. If you find olives on the trees, start harvesting, and if not, leave.” He let me pass and get to my land. When I entered the plot, I discovered that about 120 out of 400 olive trees had already been harvested. The signs of the harvest were clearly visible on the ground, sticks and olives that had fallen around the trees.
I also discovered that the iron gates I had installed at the edge of my plot had been stolen, and that the branches of many of the olive trees had been broken. I went back to the soldier who had spoken with me and asked him to come see the condition of the trees. He accompanied me and documented the state of my land.
On Saturday, 25 October 2025, I went back to my land in the She’b a-Nimr area, this time to the plot adjacent to the village homes, with five laborers to harvest olives. About half an hour after we arrived, a blue vehicle showed up and stopped on the road opposite my land. An armed settler got out of the vehicle and walked over to us. He ordered us to leave the area, and when we ignored him, he called in the army. Soldiers arrived and forced us, under threats, to leave my land, claiming I didn’t have coordination.
On Thursday, 30 October 2025, a town resident told me that several settlers had come to my land near his home and stolen my water tanks. He was unable to document the theft.
On Friday, 31 October 2025, when activists and volunteers arrived to help us access our farmland north of the town, I went out to my land in the al-Qita’ area, which is near the road leading to the base. When I reached my land, I discovered that the 60 mature olive trees I have there had already been harvested, and that many of their branches had been broken. I also saw signs of sheep grazing in the area. We have already grown used to seeing settlers grazing sheep on the farmland north of the town and damaging crops.
About 30 to 40 minutes after I arrived, occupation soldiers came to the area with two settlers, one of whom was armed. The soldiers ordered me to leave my land, and I had no choice but to obey. They also forced the other farmers to leave their land.
After we left, three male soldiers and a female soldier were documented harvesting my olive trees that are adjacent to the road.
In addition to the olive trees, I also have quite a few fig trees on my land, and I always supplied figs to the town residents. But this year I had to buy figs for household use, because I couldn’t get to my land. These plots used to yield no fewer than 300 jerrycans of olive oil every year, but this year I managed to produce only two jerrycans from the few plots I managed to reach, less than 2% to 3% of the total area of my land. The town’s northern land has become an area that’s off-limits to us, even in the harvest or plowing seasons, while we see settlers invading it with their sheep and cattle herds and exploiting it every day with no interference.