The graffiti reading “Revenge, regards from Jat,” spray-painted by settlers on Ghneimat’s land. Photo courtesy of Ghneimat
On Thursday, 1 October 2025, Saqer Ghneimat, from the town of Surif, was told by a neighboring farmer that dozens of olive trees had been cut down on his land north of the town of Beit Ummar. The settlement of Bat Ayin was established about two kilometers from the plot.
When he arrived at the plot, Ghneimat discovered that about 70 olive trees and other trees had been cut down, and that the words “Revenge, regards from Jat” had been spray-painted in Hebrew at the site.
In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari, Ghneimat, 50, a father of 12, said:
I live with my wife and children in the al-Baq’ah area in the town of Surif. I work as a teacher at the Beit Ummar elementary school, and I have a 15-dunam (1 dunam = 0.1 hectares) plot north of the town, with olive trees. The settlement of Bat Ayin was established at a distance of about two kilometers from the plot.
Olive trees that were cut down on Ghneimat’s land. Photo courtesy of Ghneimat
About four months ago, settlers set up a new outpost west of Bat Ayin, near the plot, and since then, they’ve been invading my land, grazing their flocks there and driving us away. The settlers also broke branches off olive trees that are 15 to 20 years old. There are also sumac trees, pine trees and fig trees on the land. Since 7 October 2023, we haven’t managed to harvest olives there because of the settlers’ attacks, and it was the same this year too.
On 1 October 2025, I got a phone call from a neighboring farmer, who told me he saw that dozens of olive trees on my land had been cut down.
I went to check and saw that about 70 fruit-bearing olive trees, pine trees and sumac trees were completely broken. It looked like they were cut down with an electric saw. I also found Hebrew graffiti spray-painted on a wall there. I gathered up the felled trees, loaded them onto a truck and brought them home, where my wife, the children and I picked the olives that were left on them.
Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
