In recent years — and especially since 7 October 2023 — there has been a sharp increase in both the number and severity of settler attacks against Palestinians. The incidents reported on this blog do not reflect all incidents of settler violence in the West Bank, but only those that B’Tselem was able to document and investigate.
Fruit trees settlers cut down in Ahmad ‘Amarneh’s orchards. Still from video footage, courtesy of ‘Amarneh
In 2018, Ahmad ‘Amarneh, a resident of the town of Qaffin, fulfilled his dream and planted orchards with about 2,500 different fruit trees on his family’s land in the area of Khirbet Farasin, about 650 meters from town. Qaffin itself is in Tulkarm District, and the agricultural area is located across district lines, in Jenin District.
Around 2019, settlers established an outpost called Havat El Naveh, about 1.5 kilometers northeast of the orchards, and settlers coming from that direction began grazing their sheep there. In October 2023, after the war in Gaza began, settlers damaged about 500 trees on ‘Amarneh’s land, and in September 2025, settlers cut and damaged about 980 trees and destroyed the orchards’ irrigation systems. The Israel Police arrived and documented the destruction, but did nothing. In November 2025, settlers cut down about 990 trees and destroyed the irrigation systems in additional orchards.
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Irrigation system settlers destroyed in Ahmad ‘Amarneh’s orchards. Still from video footage, courtesy of ‘Amarneh
Before the settlers destroyed the orchards, into which ‘Amarneh put hundreds of thousands of shekels and a lot of hard work over the years, he managed to harvest and export about 30 tons of avocado to Dubai, and about 20 tons of guava for sale in Israel.
In a testimony he gave B’Tselem researcher Abdulkarim Sadi on 18 November 2025, Ahmad Mahmoud Naser ‘Amarneh, a 35-year-old resident of Qaffin and father of three, said:
My family has agricultural land spanning more than 100 dunam (1 dunam = 0.1 hectares) in the Khirbet Farasin area. In 2018, I started working on making my lifelong dream come true: restoring the family land and planting it with a variety of fruit trees, avocado, mango, guava, peach, walnut, and lemon. I managed to plant about 2,500 trees, connect them to water systems and care for them over the years, and the project progressed successfully.
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Fruit trees settlers cut down in Ahmad ‘Amarneh’s orchards. Still from video footage, courtesy of ‘Amarneh
Then, about 1.5 kilometers northeast of the area where we restored and planted the orchards, a shepherding outpost called Havat El Naveh was established. Although settlers began grazing their flocks inside our orchards, I did my utmost to avoid friction between my family and them. I tried to avoid any direct confrontation, because I was sure the damage would be very great.
The saplings grew into large trees, and the trees began bearing beautiful fruit.
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Fruit trees settlers cut down in Ahmad ‘Amarneh’s orchards. Still from video footage, courtesy of ‘Amarneh
The calm held until the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, and then I was shocked when settlers cut down and sawed up about 500 trees on our land. Even so, I kept my restraint and didn’t contact the media or go on social media, so the settlers wouldn’t take vengeance and destroy the trees that were left too. Despite the serious incident, I kept working and caring for the land and the fruit trees.
On 29 September 2025, when I arrived at the orchard, I was stunned to discover that the settlers had destroyed trees again. They cut down and felled 980 productive trees, including 400 guava trees, 50 avocado trees, 100 pomegranate trees, 200 peach and apricot trees, 200 olive trees and 30 lemon trees. They also cut and destroyed the irrigation systems of the remaining trees. The Israeli police arrived and documented the damage, but took no action against the offenders.
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Fruit trees settlers cut down in Ahmad ‘Amarneh’s orchards. Still from video footage, courtesy of ‘Amarneh
We continued to work and come to our land almost every day to keep watch and pick the fruit, but on 2 November 2025, we were once again stunned when the settlers cut down 290 more trees: 30 walnut trees, 40 lemon trees, 120 guava trees and 100 mango trees, and destroyed another irrigation system.
The last time the settlers damaged trees in our orchards was on 15 November 2025. They took advantage of our absence from the orchard because of the rainy, cold weather early on Saturday morning and cut down all the remaining trees that had already borne fruit, 700 productive trees, including 600 guava trees, 80 avocado trees and 20 walnut trees.
I invested a fortune and years of hard work in my trees, and their destruction by the settlers forced me to go to the media and human rights organizations to expose their acts and crimes.
The current season, the 2025 season, was supposed to be the first season in which we would sell produce from the orchard. I managed to export 30 tons of avocado to Dubai and 20 tons of guava to markets in Israel. What the settlers did, destroying my orchard, is the complete destruction of the beautiful dream that I was able to realize.
