Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian factories to force workers off land: Rising Israeli settler violence targets Palestinian industrial facilities across the occupied West Bank, aiming to paralyse the local economy and force mass displacement.

Burned trees and scorched land are seen following an arson attack by Israeli settlers on the Al-Omari aluminium factory in Ein Siniya [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]

 By Ola Mohammad

Published On 27 Aug 202627 Aug 2026

A massive fire, believed to have been started by Israeli settlers, has destroyed olive trees and farmland in the occupied West Bank.

A blaze broke out near the al-Omari aluminium factory in the village of Ein Siniya, north of Ramallah, on Monday morning, spreading to roughly 50 dunams (12.3 acres) of perennial olive trees and causing damage to the industrial facility’s yard.

It comes amid a settler campaign targeting the West Bank economy, including farmland and industry, in a bid to displace Palestinians, sources told Al Jazeera.

Emad Khater, the head of Ein Siniya council, told Al Jazeera that a settler from the Atara hilltops was seen close to the facility before the fire started. When the blaze broke out, Israeli soldiers prevented residents and workers from putting out the fire.

“[It] is one of a series of systematic attacks that previously affected Ein Siniya, which included deliberate fires in trees, homes, and cars, in addition to theft incidents and physical assaults with beatings that affected citizens and workers inside the factories,” said Khater.

Ein Siniya is in Area B according to the Oslo Accords, which should see it under Palestinian civil and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control.

Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, the owner of the Ein Siniya facility, said Israelis from illegal settlements had infiltrated the industrial site in late July and set fire to heavy equipment. A stone crusher was severely damaged in the attack and caused an estimated $700,000 in losses.... READ MORE  https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/27/israeli-settlers-targeting-palestinian-factories-to-force-workers-off-land 

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Israel deliberately starting wildfires in southern Lebanon, firefighters say: First responders, residents and environmental groups say [Israeli] military dropping flares to destroy forests and crops

Forest fires sweep through the outskirts of the southern Lebanon village of Kfar Shouba on 5 August after Israeli bombing, despite the ceasefire. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters and residents of south Lebanon have accused the Israeli military of lighting wildfires in the region, as forested areas burned down in blazes sparked by Israeli bombing.

Environmental groups said the fires in recent weeks were part of a longstanding Israeli practice of targeting Lebanon’s natural environment.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military dropped flares in a wooded area outside Khiam, in south Lebanon, sparking blazes. When firefighters attempted to extinguish the flames, a drone struck close by, forcing them to withdraw, the head of the civil defence in the Nabatieh region, Hussein Fakih, said.

“Most of our missions are now related to fires. There are enormous areas of woodland that have burned, I don’t have the exact figures, but in the areas close to the [frontline], around 30-40% of the land has been affected by fires,” he said.

The Israeli military has caused fires across south Lebanon, in particular in olive groves and agricultural land, in the nearly two-months since the 17 June ceasefire that mostly ended fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to videos and testimony from first responders.

The military was asked for comment on each of the wildfire incidents, but did not respond.

“They started doing this right after the ceasefire, and there have been incendiary bombs every day,” said Fakih. “Small drones come out and drop incendiary materials, [white] phosphorus shells are fired at the woodlands, in addition to illumination flares that they drop during the daytime so the vegetation catches fire.”

Firefighters and residents of other areas in south Lebanon describe similar blazes being started by Israeli munitions and drones in dry scrub and woodlands. On Friday, Israeli munitions created large wildfires in two heavily forested areas: in Kfarchouba, close to the border, and between Jezzine and the western Bekaa valley.

The civil defence station chief in the area, Samir Hardan, said a fire was started near Kfarchouba on Friday afternoon after a drone dropped a munition in woodlands. After battling blazes overnight and extinguishing them on Saturday, a second drone started another fire on Sunday, Hardan said.

Firefighters, who are required to coordinate their movements with the Lebanese army, which relays their request to a “deconfliction” group that includes the Israeli military, were given permission to fight the fires at only two spots, and not other areas where fires were raging.

According to environmental groups, the fires are part of a pattern of Israeli attacks against Lebanon’s environment, which threaten the country’s woodlands and the biodiversity they support, experts said.

“These are long-established woodlands, dominated by productive stone pine alongside oak. They perform critical functions. The wider area is also an important passage and resting ground for migratory birds,” said Hisham Younes, the founder of the Lebanese conservation organisation Green Southerners.... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/12/israel-deliberately-starting-wildfires-in-southern-lebanon-firefighters-say

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Israeli settlers carry out series of West Bank attacks as security forces stand by

Witnesses describe coordinated raids in which homes and vehicles were set on fire and several Palestinians injured

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates 

A Palestinian woman takes a photo of a damaged house after Israeli settlers attacked three West Bank communities Photograph: Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem 

Sun 22 Mar 2026 

Israeli settlers have carried out a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank, setting homes and vehicles on fire and wounding several Palestinians in what witnesses described as coordinated raids on communities.

The violence, reported across at least half a dozen locations overnight from Saturday into Sunday, comes amid a wider surge in tensions in the territory. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited local sources as saying settlers had entered al-Fandaqumiya and the nearby town of Seilat al-Dahr, south of Jenin, late on Saturday.

In al-Fandaqumiya, settlers set fire to houses and cars and smashed windows of other homes as residents “attempted to confront them and put out the fires”, according to Wafa. In Seilat al-Dahr, several homes were targeted and a resident was beaten, leaving him injured.

Further attacks were... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/22/israeli-settlers-carry-out-series-of-west-bank-attacks-as-security-forces-stand-by 

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December 8th 2025 in Jerusalem: The United Nations flag was pulled down & replaced with an Israeli flag

Philippe Lazzarini

@UNLazzarini

Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the @UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem. 

 

Police motorcycles, as well as trucks & forklifts, were brought in & all communications were cut. 

 

Furniture, IT equipment & other property was seized. 

 

The @UN flag was pulled down & replaced with an Israeli flag. 

 

This latest action represents a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations Member State to protect & respect the inviolability of UN premises.  

 

Following months of harassment that included arson attacks in 2024, hateful demonstrations & intimidation, supported by a large-scale disinformation campaign, as well as anti-UNRWA legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in breach of its international obligations, UNRWA personnel were forced to vacate the compound at the beginning of this year.   

 

However, whatever action taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference.  

 

Israel is party to the Convention on the Privileges & Immunities of the UN. The Convention makes UN premises inviolable - in other words, immune from search and/or seizure - and makes UN property and assets immune from legal process.  

 

The International Court of Justice has also underscored that Israel is obliged to cooperate with UNRWA & other UN agencies.   

 

There can be no exceptions. 

 

To allow this represents a new challenge to international law, one that creates a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present across the world.

 

https://x.com/UNLazzarini/status/1997985397440172110

 

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Israeli settlers set a Catholic Church in Galilee on fire

Dec 20,2019

 

In recent years, mosques and churches have been targeted by vandals in similar attacks. They are always attributed to extremist Jews in West Bank settlements.

 

The Galilee church where Jesus was believed to have performed miracle of feeding 5,000 followers was set alight in arson attack carried out by extremist Jewish settlers.

 

Hebrew graffiti was also scrawled across the walls of Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish.

An adviser to the Catholic Church blamed Jewish extremists for the “deplorable” attack after Israeli police said there is a “strong possibility” the fire was started deliberately.

The current structure was built on the remains of a fifth-century Byzantine church at Tabgha on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where many Christians believe Jesus fed 5,000 followers with just five loaves and two fish.

Police confirmed there was extensive damage to both inside and outside the building after the fire broke out in the middle of the night.

A monk and a church volunteer were hospitalised from smoke inhalation, but the incredibly, the prayer area was unaffected.

“It's deplorable, absolutely deplorable,” Father Gregory Collins, head of the Order of Saint Benedict in Israel, said. “I consider such an attack to be not just an attack on a religious site, on a sanctuary, but also on one of the most visited places in Israel.”

“It is also an attack on freedom of speech, democracy and the right to live here,” he added.

This incident, which happened in June 2015, was not the first such attack to be carried by the extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinian Muslim and Christian holy sites.

In recent years, mosques and churches have been targeted by vandals in similar attacks. They are always attributed to extremist Jews in West Bank settlements.

Such attacks have been on the rise because the perpetrators, who are being backed directly by the Israeli government, go unpunished.

#Jewish Settlers #Jesus #Galilee #Al Jaleel #Church #Catholic Church #Arson Attack

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