BBC witness the attack by Israel’s settlers against the Palestinian Farm on the West Bank

Among the broken remains of Brahim Hamail’s olive trees, the occupied west coast, we saw that the masked men were approaching.

A dozen settlers loading from the illegal stand above their farm and through the field to us, moving quickly and carrying large sticks.

A sudden and hassle -free attack.

Brahim showed us the trees that he said were hacked in pieces this week by settlers from the advance.

His family has grown olives here on land near Tourmus Aya for generations, making him a goal for extremist settlers, who believe the murder of Palestinian trees and livestock will also kill the idea of a Palestinian state, forcing residents like Brahim to tear their land.

“Fear is natural,” Brahim told me, looked up at the ridge, where the tarpaulin fell into the publication of the settlers in front of several caravans and improvised homes. “But there is something stronger than fear that makes me stay here – the aroma of my ancestors and attachment, dating from hundreds of years – even if I pay the price with my blood.”

While masked men run to us, we pull back to the road and drive a safe distance.

Minutes later, some of Brahim’s neighbors from the surrounding farms and villages gather with catapults and stones to face the attackers.

The vegetation to the side of the road is set on fire, its smoke signals at the place of confrontation, as settlers of the four bicycle pursue a volunteer emergency crew, trying to reach a farmhouse in the middle of the field.

This is already a familiar routine. The Palestinians living in these villages south of Nablus say that every week there are attacks and confrontations in their lands and that settlers use similar tactics to take the earth, field by field.

But the speed and spread of this attack is breathtaking.

In just over an hour, dozens of settlers collapsed through the hills. We watched you invaded an insulated building and methodically set fire to vehicles and homes.

The shepherds on the most distant ridge rushed to their strikes as the hill behind them fell into flames, the smoke twisted from several places.

Until then, the Palestinians arrive from all over the area to help their neighbors find the main access path blocked by the Israeli army as the destruction continued.

It is reported that a Palestinian was beaten by settlers, and later the army told us that both sides had thrown rocks to each other and that the Palestinians had burned tires. It says that four Israeli civilians received medical treatment on site.

Amidst the crowd waiting near the obstacle of the army, we found that Rifa said Hamail, her frantic gestures inferior to a warm smile and a hug as we talked to her.

Rifa told us that her husband was trapped in their village house near Brahim’s olive farm and was surrounded by settlers, but that the army would not let her pass.

“Every other day, the settlers do this – they attack us, cut the olive trees and burn the farms,” she said. “This is not life. No one can stop them. We have nothing to oppose them. They have a weapon, we have nothing.”

We later learned that the settlers had burned some of their property and that the Rifa’s husband was left with cuts on the face and legs after being struck with rocks.

The Israeli Organization Mir now, which is monitoring the spread of settlements on the West Coast, says that the number of advanceds – and the aggression of the settlers – has multiplied after Hamas’s attacks against Israel in October 2023 and the Gaza war followed.

Since the beginning of last year, it is written that about 100 advanced have appeared in the west coast. He also found that hundreds of square kilometers of land have been taken over by settlers in the last few years, using the same violent pattern of intimidation – it is encouraged, according to him, through state support and lack of appropriate law enforcement by Israel.

Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Namalel Smotrich announced the creation of thousands of new residential units in a large west shore block to the south, saying that this would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

Between August 5-11, the UN Humanitarian Affairs Service documents at least 27 attacks of settlers against Palestinians, which led to casualties, damage to property, or both, in two dozen different communities. These attacks, she said, led to the displacement of 18 households.

We were unable to talk to any of the settlers involved in the attack we are witnessing. The local settlers’ council told us that there were elements from both sides seeking a provocation that he had strongly condemned.

Brahim told us that he had submitted two separate complaints about the attacks on his land, but few Palestinians here have a lot of faith in Israeli justice or security forces, saying many times that they only defend the settlers.

One of the volunteer emergency crews who came to help during the clashes on Saturday, told me that the Israeli army had prevented them from reaching the place.

“We were trying to save young men when the army came, bouncing us and telling us to get out of here,” said Yaha Al-Hatib.

“We were volunteers wearing vests. We are not here to attack or harm the settlers. We want to quell fires and treat wounded people. But they (the army) stop us and stand in our way.”

The tension between the locals and the settlers is complicated by the increasing control of the Israeli forces on the west coast, which saw the evacuation and the widespread destruction of the refugee camps on the northern west coast.

From January to June this year, the UN found that 149 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers of the occupied West coast. Nine Israelis were killed by Palestinians.

Hours after the clashes that erupted around Brahim’s farm on Saturday, another Palestinian victim was added to this gloomy.

The eighteen-year-old Hamdan Abu-Elaia was shot and killed by Israeli troops in the village of Al-Mugayir, a few miles from the Brahim field.

His mother told us that he went to see the fires lit by settlers nearby. “I raised it for 18 years and he wasn’t for a minute,” she said.

We asked the Israeli army what happened. It says that the “terrorists” threw rocks and cocktails Molotov on troops in the village and that the soldiers “reacted with fire to eliminate the threat.”

Hundreds were gathered at Hamdan’s house for his funeral on Sunday, as his body was transferred to his mother to say goodbye.

His father Amen Abu Ellaa, raging to friends and family, said he refused to show Israel his tears.

“They thought that if they killed our son, we would leave,” he said. “I won’t shout and scream and say” Why did you go? “I’m not sad that he passed.

The local mosque was welcomed by a hero for Hamdan’s body, as it was transferred to the funeral prayer – huge Palestinian flags hung together with those of Fatakh and Hamas from Rust and windows; Crowds lining the beer path.

In the language of this conflict, every birth and every funeral only strengthen the relationships with the land.

Additional reporting from Morgan Gisholt Minard