For too many Palestinians, olive harvest season has become a season of fear
For too many Palestinians, olive harvest season has become a season of fear.
- Mon, Aug 10 2026 at 9:18 AM
"Without the harvest, I will die. Really, I will die.”
Mark: Last fall, Yousef Dar al-Musa, a 67-year-old farmer, was violently blocked by settlers from reaching his family's land in the West Bank.[1]
His story is not unique.
Normally, proceeds from selling olive oil carry Dar al-Musa’s and other Palestinian families through the year. It’s a livelihood passed down through generations, but the 2025 olive harvest was widely described as the worst in living memory: Across village after village, trees stood heavy with fruit that no one could safely pick in the face of settler attacks and Israeli military closure orders.[1]
Combatants for Peace (CfP) — a courageous movement of former Israeli and Palestinian fighters and other committed activists working together through nonviolent action to build a peaceful future — is directly supporting families displaced by home demolitions and settler violence, including through protective presence during this year’s olive harvest in the West Bank. Simultaneously, Win Without War is continuing our work to mobilize partners across the movement to act alongside hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists to end U.S. complicity in the violence people experience there, in Gaza, and beyond.
Our two organizations work across borders to build a world where Palestinians and Israelis can live in safety.
With settler violence on the rise and Israel’s far-right government accelerating a land grab in the occupied West Bank, it’s clear that we must work harder. We issued an urgent challenge to raise $25,000 for Win Without War and Combatants for Peace. Thanks to this incredible community, we are ⅓ of the way there.
Settler violence is becoming all too normalized in the West Bank, and it’s not exclusive to Palestinian farmers. Earlier this summer, Congressman Ro Khanna experienced firsthand just how dangerous conditions have become when armed settlers detained him, and Israeli soldiers prevented him from leaving. If a sitting member of the U.S. Congress can be detained like that, imagine what the average farmer faces every single harvest season.
Win Without War works every single day to help stop the violence and create the conditions necessary for peace, demanding a genuine, permanent ceasefire in Gaza, opposing U.S. weapons transfers to the Israeli government, and resisting dangerous efforts to deepen military integration between the Pentagon and IDF. But we know we won’t change this horrific situation alone, which is why we work closely with incredible grassroots groups on the frontline.
We have proudly supported CfP before because they embody the kind of courageous, people-powered peacebuilding we believe is possible — working to end the occupation, resist all forms of violence, and build a future based on freedom, equality, justice, and peace for all — even amidst unimaginable violence.
As the violence rages across the West Bank and beyond, we know how easy it can be to feel hopeless. But it’s this community that time and time again gives us the hope we need to keep going. When hawks push toward war, we turn to the peacemakers. Join us.
We know that we won’t create the change we need to truly keep people in Palestine, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, or the United States safe alone. Our team at Win Without War is honored to work alongside such incredible partners in this critical moment — because we know that the impossible becomes achievable when we work together.
With your support, we’re changing the discussion about what ‘security’ really means, and building a world where people can thrive without the threat of violence.
Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team
- Al Jazeera, "The worst Palestinian olive harvest in collective memory"
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