Dhiba al-Saba: A Palestinian farmer confronts settlement expansion in Hebron

Dhiba al-Saba, a Palestinian farmer in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, faces daily security challenges while tending to her family's vineyards in the 'Khirbet al-Qatt' or 'Jabal Saba' area. She describes her land, once a primary source of income, as having become a site of daily confrontation with settlers. According to al-Saba, since the establishment of settler outposts on nearby hills in mid-2024, her family's movements have been under constant surveillance, accompanied by intimidation and the destruction of crops by settlers' livestock. Anwar Sabarneh, another local farmer, confirms this situation, reporting that accessing his land has become increasingly difficult due to the presence of settlers and interventions by the Israeli military. He adds that the military now requires landowners to obtain permits for routine agricultural work. Hassan Breijieh, an expert on settlement affairs, citing data from the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, stated that 11,074 acts of aggression by settlers and the Israeli military were recorded in the West Bank during the first half of 2026, with 3,488 of these carried out by settlers. Breijieh emphasizes that these restrictions and the closure of access routes have severely impacted the agricultural sector in the southern West Bank, leaving many lands abandoned due to the inability of farmers to reach them.