Under Threat in Deir Istiya: An Olive Harvest Sustained by Israeli Activists

In the early hours of a Friday morning in November 2025, Hussain and his colleagues began their weekly routine of picking olives from their land. They live in Deir Istiya, a Palestinian village in the northern Occupied West Bank in the Salfit Governorate, roughly a 45-minute drive from Tel-Aviv.

Deir Istiya has a long-standing heritage of olive harvesting, dating back to the 14th century. Today, with roughly 5,000 residents, the village has around 26,000 dunams (26 km²) of olive orchards, making it home to one of the largest olive-growing areas in the West Bank.

The centuries-old agricultural richness of Deir Istiya is in stark contrast to the political tensions in the region, which have placed the village’s olive farmers in a very difficult situation. Only 17 per cent of the village is under Palestinian civil control with joint security oversight; most of the residents and olive groves have been designated as Area C, which is under full Israeli control. 

2025 marked one of the worst and shortest olive harvests that Hussain and the rest of the village had ever experienced. During the first month of the harvest alone, olive farmers in the West Bank faced at least 260 attacks, according to a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report quoted by the BBC – the highest monthly figure since monitoring began in 2006. Overall, more than 4,000 trees and saplings were vandalised during the recent harvest season.

Deir Istiya has recently been affected by growing settler violence, repeated arrests of farmers and army restrictions. In November 2025, a village mosque was set on fire and offensive Hebrew graffiti was sprayed on its walls. Furthermore, the army kept Deir Istiya’s main gate closed for most of the harvest season, leaving farmers and villagers with only a narrow dirt road.

Detained while Harvesting

Hussain and his colleagues were in the middle of their harvesting when an Israeli security officer from the nearby Immanuel settlement approached and confronted them, shouting that they were not permitted to harvest. Soldiers soon arrived and arrested Hussain and his colleagues.

Hussain described how he was kicked and beaten during the short drive to a nearby military base. 'Upon arrival,' he recalls, 'we were kept outside in the sun for about five hours, blindfolded and handcuffed behind our backs in a painful position, cursed at by soldiers, and beaten again.' As he spoke, he pointed to the cuff marks that were still visible on his wrists and the bruising on his back.

Hours later, Hussain said, a soldier placed the regional Shin Bet coordinator (Israel’s internal security and counterintelligence service) on speakerphone. 'He told me that you [the Israeli volunteers – A.R.] were causing trouble. And that if we continued harvesting or stayed in contact with Israelis, my family would be harmed.'

They were released at 6:30 p.m. without charges or investigation, Hussain remembers.

A new Outpost and Rising Tensions

Deir Istiya is surrounded by the settlements of Yakir, Revava and Immanuel, which were established on expropriated village land between 1981 and 1991.

In 2023, a new outpost called Oppenheimer Farm was built on grazing land owned by the village’s shepherds. Over the past decade, many outposts and farms have been established in the Occupied West Bank – some with governmental financial assistance. This has become one of Israel’s primary methods for taking control of land while displacing Palestinian communities.

According to Israeli activists and local herder Hammam Salman, the new outpost marked a turning point in the village’s escalation of violence. 'In the past, we did not encounter any significant problems,' he told B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation which documents violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

Just days after the new outpost was established, three settlers stopped Salman on his way to the pen and warned him that he was being allowed to pass for the last time. 'We have lived here for more than 50 years,' he said. 'We fear for our lives, and for the only source of income for our family.'

The growing lack of personal security means that many farmers and herders have left entire groves untended.

Ensuring Access to the Groves

To ensure that olive farmers can access their groves, a group of Israeli volunteers regularly accompanies them during the harvest. In 2009, Aviv Tatarsky founded 'Engaged Dharma' with a group of Israeli Dharma practitioners, integrating Dharma practice with social action. 'We wanted to bring our two worlds together,' he said, 'peace-making supported by Dharma and political activism as the expression of our practice.' 

Around 200 Jewish volunteers join the harvest in Deir Istiya twice a week. Before heading to the groves, the volunteers gather for a short meditation. Tatarsky and the other experienced activists then brief the group, urging them to avoid confrontation while remaining attentive to their emotional responses should IDF troops come.

During their visits, the Israeli volunteers work alongside the Palestinian farmers, climbing the trees, pruning the olive branches and collecting olives by hand. At the end of the day, they help to transport the olives to the village’s olive presses. Some volunteers buy local olive oil to distribute across Israel. The farmers’ ability to continue working depends largely on the volunteers’ presence.

These joint Israeli-Palestinian efforts stand in stark contrast to the growing public sentiment of mistrust between Jews and Arabs in Israel since October 7th (a trend reflected in recent polling). 

Despite existing language barriers, close bonds have formed over the years. 'We sit together, eat together, sometimes the volunteers even sleep in our homes,' said Abed, a local farmer. 'I’ve known Aviv for around fifteen years. We are like one family.' 

According to Deir Istiya’s olive farmers, the regular presence of the Israeli group has made it possible for several families to reach groves they would otherwise avoid because of security concerns. The volunteers’ presence has allowed parts of 2025’s olive harvest to be completed even under increasingly restrictive conditions. At the same time, this arrangement leaves farmers dependent on the Israeli volunteers and therefore remains only a temporary solution to a wider structural problem. For now, however, it appears to be the only available option that allows Hussain and other olive farmers of Deir Istiya to continue harvesting with reduced personal risk.

'If anyone wonders how Israelis and Palestinians can live here together,' Tatarsky says, 'it’s through long-term commitment and shared action. When we show up for each other, even amid deep inequality, real bonds form – and they point to the only future we have.'