A large fire believed to have been started by Israeli settlers destroyed olive trees and farmland near the al-Omari aluminium factory in the village of Ein Siniya, north of Ramallah, on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
The blaze spread across about 50 dunams (12.3 acres) of land planted with perennial olive trees and also damaged the factory’s yard.
***
Emad Khater, head of the Ein Siniya council, said that a settler from the nearby Atara hilltops had been seen near the facility shortly before the fire began. He said Israeli soldiers prevented local residents and factory workers from helping extinguish the blaze.
Khater described the incident as part of a wider pattern of attacks in Ein Siniya, including fires deliberately set in trees, homes and vehicles, as well as theft and physical assaults against residents and factory workers.
Ein Siniya is located in Area B under the Oslo Accords, where Palestinians have civil authority and security responsibilities are shared with Israel.
The latest incident follows an attack in late July at another industrial site in the area. Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, owner of a stone-crushing facility in Ein Siniya, said Israeli settlers entered the site and set fire to heavy machinery.
A stone crusher was severely damaged, causing an estimated $700,000 in losses.
Abdul Aziz said settlers had also established an outpost along the road leading to the facility and brought livestock into the area after Palestinian shepherds were displaced. He said vehicles and offices had repeatedly been attacked in what he described as an effort to force the facility’s owners to leave.
Farther south, in the town of as-Samu near Hebron, around 30 settlers allegedly attacked an industrial facility owned by Khaled al-Zaarir on August 21.
Al-Zaarir said the attack followed repeated death threats. Two excavators, three stone-cutting machines, three bulldozers and a security office were damaged.
A fire allegedly started during the attack left more than 90 percent of the heavy machinery beyond repair, according to al-Zaarir. The facility provided direct or indirect income for about 55 people.
Economist Moayad Afanah said Palestinian industrial facilities in Areas B and C of the occupied West Bank were increasingly being targeted in a coordinated manner. He pointed to recent attacks on al-Junaidi dairy factories in the Tulkarem area as another example.
“The volume of financial losses is enormous,” Afanah said, noting that destroying a single bulldozer or excavator can cost investors hundreds of thousands of shekels.
He warned that repeated attacks are draining Palestinian resources, discouraging investment and worsening the economic crisis in the West Bank, where unemployment has reached 29 percent.
Amir Dawoud, an official with the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said his organisation documented 798 settler attacks in July alone. These included 440 incidents involving property damage and land levelling, 67 cases of confiscation and theft, and the vandalism or poisoning of 5,027 trees.
Other incidents have also targeted Palestinian businesses. On March 25, settlers reportedly erected a tent near a concrete factory in Taybeh. On August 16, a stone-cutting machine in Sinjil was targeted, with its cables cut and a valuable electronic board stolen.
Dawoud warned that attacks on industrial facilities can leave dozens of families without income while increasing pressure on Palestinians to abandon their land.
“Settler terrorism performs a dual function,” he said, describing the attacks as both a source of direct economic damage and a means of creating conditions that could drive Palestinians away and facilitate further settlement expansion and control of the land.
