Facing settler violence, Palestinian farmers race to harvest

AI Summary

Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank are hastening to harvest wheat amid ongoing settler violence that has included deliberate crop fires. Farmer Hamad Jazi fears further crop destruction amid continuing tensions in the region.

With pitchforks and a makeshift combine the size of a golf cart, Hamad Jazi and his nephews race under the blazing sun to collect wheat from their West Bank field. Israeli settlers have recently set fire to crops in the area, and Jazi fears his wheat could suffer a similar fate. Their village of As-Sawiyah, in the centre of the occupied West Bank, sits in a valley dominated by hills on top of which three settlements stand. "The settlers have set fires twice already -- yesterday and the day before," Jazi told AFP.