Figs and olives once meant life. Now Israeli occupiers turn harvest deadly for Palestine's village

Village officials had planned a three-day festival showcasing fresh figs, fig-based products, cheeses, dairy items and other local produce before all events were canceled.

Owners of nearby cattle and poultry farms have also been unable to reach their properties for days, leaving animals without food or water, according to Zaidan.

“We do not love death, as they portray us. We love life,” he said. “All we want is to live in our homes, cultivate our land and harvest it in peace.”

“When someone comes to your home, tries to burn it down or attacks your land, you have the right to defend yourself. They come to us; we do not go to them.”

A new reality

Village resident Omar Ishtayeh said Tel has long depended on agriculture and welcomed visitors from across the occupied West Bank to enjoy its figs, olives and dairy products.

He said the last few months have seen a growing expansion of illegal settlement outposts and repeated restrictions preventing farmers from accessing land, particularly on the village’s western side, just as the fig season reaches its peak.

“The sweetness of Tel’s figs has turned into bitterness,” he said, describing how reaching orchards has become dangerous because of occupiers’ attacks.

“The fruit that once symbolised prosperity and livelihood in Tel has become a witness to a new reality threatening both the land and the people who live on it,” he said.

As the figs ripen, farmers fear the harvest season will end before they can return to their orchards.

For many Palestinians, what happened in Tel is not viewed as an isolated incident but as part of a broader escalation in illegal occupiers’ violence across the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli occupiers carried out 3,488 attacks against Palestinians and their property during the first half of 2026, including assaults on civilians, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, destruction of farmland, preventing farmers from reaching their fields and establishing new illegal settlement outposts.

The UN considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory illegal under international law, while Palestinians warn that the accelerating expansion of illegal settlements is undermining prospects for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.