The Freedom Rides are one of a number of Palestinian civil disobedience actions planned to protest the Israeli occupation. It comes amidst a wave of recent settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Recent U.N. figures show attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have increased by 40 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 165 percent compared to 2009. Nearly 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees have been damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of Palestinian families have been forced to relocate away from ancestral farmlands. Over 90 percent of monitored complaints filed by Palestinians with the Israeli police have been closed without indictment.