In the Occupied Territories, Palestinians have begun their annual olive harvest amidst ongoing harassment from Jewish settlers in the West Bank. The Israeli peace group Rabbis for Human Rights says it has deployed activists to forty Palestinian villages to act as “human shields” for the olive growers. Arik Ashcherm of Rabbis for Human Rights said his group would stand up to the settlers.

Arik Ashcherm: “Everybody knows that these are Palestinian-owned trees. Behind us, in the background, is an outpost called 'Mahson David,' which has been created because settlers would like to have a path from Qiryat Arba (settlement) to the Mahpela Cave, and as part of their effort to create facts on the ground, they have been trying to create this outpost here to take more and more Palestinian-owned land.”